At Twelve O'Clock
by ChibiFrubaGirl
Summary: Yuffie was never interested in boys. But then one day, while she Leon, Cloud, Cid and Aerith are staying on Destiny Islands, Selphie tells her about an old romantic legend. At first Yuffie doesn't believe in it but what happens when it starts to come true
1. Chapter 1

_"Stop laughing!" Kairi, Selphie, and Namine glared down at the ninja girl who was, at this point, rolling on the floor from laughing too hard._

_"That's gotta be the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" said ninja shouted._

_"Or the most romantic…" said Namine with a sigh and dreamy expression._

_Yuffie stood up and brushed herself off giving them all weird looks._

_"So," she began, "you all think that someday at exactly twelve-o-clock you're going to meet 'prince charming' prancing around on his white horse," she skipped around in an idiotic manner to demonstrate, earning her several more glares, "and then you'll both just fall in love instantly?" she mocked hands on hips._

_"No," said Selphie sourly, "I said that if you meet a guy at exactly twelve you'll fall in love with him… I didn't say instantly…"_

_"But you meant it," teased Yuffie._

_"Did not!" retorted Selphie, "It might be instant it might not be… the point is you will fall in love with them whether you like it or not!"_

_Yuffie stared at all three girls for five seconds before she threw her head back and laughed. The other girls looked scandalized._

_"Fine," said Kairi huffily, "do what ever you want Yuffie, but don't come crying to us when you're a wrinkled and lonely old biddy." The three girls stalked off leaving Yuffie standing there wondering why that last comment had upset her so much… _

Yuffie's POV

Swish, swoosh, swish, swoosh…

I kicked up the sand underneath my feet as I walked down the beach happily. This world was so pretty and there were so many shiny things hiding in the sand. Me like shiny stuff.

Leon, Aerith, Cloud, Cid and I were staying on Destiny Islands. Cid got to drive even though I wanted to drive. Poo. We were all staying at Sora's house. At first Sora's parents had agreed to let us stay without question but for some reason they looked nervous when they saw us… I wonder why… Oh well.

We'd spent the last hour and a half unpacking and getting settled. Well the others did anyway; I was searching through Sora's house looking for materia (I know it's there! If I could just find it!). Because the others claimed I had done zero work they decided it was my job to go and fetch Riku. The way they said it, it was like they thought getting him away from the little island was hard or something.

I hopped out of Sora's boat and walked up to the Paopu tree/bench/thingy. Riku was sitting on it lost in thought. Oooh… His hair is awful shiny… Hmmm…

Slowly I used my super-duper, uber awesome ninja-stealth to sneak up on him. Right when I was about to shout "BOO!" he said:

"Hi."

I collapsed from shock. How could he have possibly noticed me when I was using my super-duper, uber awesome ninja-stealth?! The Indignity (ooh big word)! He jumped down from the tree and held out his hand to help me up. I swiped it away.

"I don't need help!" I proclaimed once I was vertical again, I jutted out my chin boldly for emphasis, "I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie!"

"Oh,' he said smiling, "Sora's friend," he said this part a little bitterly (this made me think he's an over-protective brother like figure to Sora… Kind of like Leon is to me), "Right," he went on, "the loud, psycho, ninja chick."

My mouth opened and closed for a while until finally my vocally cordy thingies untied themselves.

"Is that how he describes me?" I asked dryly.

"Hmmm…" he said, "Psycho, loud ninja yes… Chick no… I just added that in cause you're so hott."

He folded his arms behind his head and started walking away. Somehow I felt that something was wrong with this situation… Something was off… But I couldn't quite place it.

_"If you meet a guy at exactly twelve you'll fall in love with him…"_

My eyes widened and my breath quickened. Without even pausing to think about how stupid it was that I was suddenly taking Selphie's words seriously I whipped out my phone and looked at the time on the clock in the top right hand corner of the screen.

12:00 and thirty seconds… Oh my God! I met him exactly thirty seconds ago! That meant that is _was _twelve-o-clock then! Wait a minute why am I panicking?

"Are you okay?" asked Riku as he turned around to face me and when I spotted the worry in his eyes my breath quickened and my hearts sped up.

Oh that's why…

"You feel a little warm… maybe we should hurry it up…"

Riku had pressed his forehead against mine and his aquamarine eyes were boring into me. They were like two shiny orbs of materia… Pwetty… Suddenly I realized how close we were.

"Gyaah!" I pushed away and fell back onto the sand. When I looked up, much to my dismay, I found he was laughing.

He held out his hand and said, "I thought ninjas were supposed to be quiet and poised, ne?" I growled and this time I took his hand. Hey if we were supposed to fall in love then there's no harm in a little give.

"Yeah, yeah, Silver…" I muttered as I dusted off my shorts for the umpteenth billionth time today, "Laugh all you want."

He smiled at me and chuckled a little… Damn boy… Wait a minute… Boy? Just how old was this guy? I might be older than him!

"Um… uh… How old are you?!" I cried.

He stared at me puzzled for a moment. "Um, sixteen, why?"

Sixteen?! I'm a year older than him! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-

"Are you sure you're okay?"

-ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo-

"YUFFIE!!!" He tackled me and I fell and went 'oof!' and brushed off sand **again. **Stupid sand, stupid love, stupid Riku, stupid Selphie…

"Um, Yuffie?" I looked around where had that voice come from?

"Mind getting off of me?" I looked down.

I was sitting on Riku.

…

"Wagh!" I cried tumbling off. Both of us got up and dusted ourselves off…

"You're pretty weird," he said before walking off hands in pockets.

He was walking so slowly. I skipped ahead and turned to face him.

"Hey! You're too slow! Hurry it up back there!" He shrugged and kept walking. Not the reaction I wanted. I ran up to him and snatched his wrist and pulled him along. He looked a little taken aback at first but soon he smiled and started running ahead of me. Oh, so it's a race ya' want, eh? I sped up so that I passed him.

"You're gonna have'ta be faster then that!" I crowed. He smirked and sped up. Soon we were both going at a break neck speed. Each of us running as fast as we could (like there was an army of Heartless after us). And yet we were tied. Perfectly matched…

I think I gained some ground when I hopped out of Sora's boat faster than he hopped out of his so I was a little ahead. But then he caught up and once again we were going as fast as physics would allow. We reached Sora's house and tagged the door at exactly the same time. Crap… he's good.

Riku had one hand on the rail of Sora's porch and the other on his leg; he was bent over and breathing hard.

I had both arms wrapped around my stomach and my legs were splayed out in front of me lazily tying to catch my breath… I felt like my lungs had popped.

"Jesus, where are those two it's been forever since we sent Yuffie to get him!" Sora's foghorn of a voice reached us outside and soon Riku and I were arguing with our faces (neither of us could talk yet) over who should perform the difficult task of knocking.

"I'll go look for them," came Kairi's softer, gentler voice and it sounded like she was by the door. Sure enough the door opened and Kairi stood there taking in the sight of two teens lying on Sora's porch dying.

"Hey (pant)… Kairi (huff, huff)…" said Riku between gasps for precious beautiful air. I held up a hand meekly in greeting before letting it drop to my side.

"What happened to you two?" asked Cloud, everyone else had come to see what was going on. Riku stood up shakily and straightened up.

"We… raced… here…" he managed to get out before leaning back on the railing. I stood up too.

"How fast did you guys go?" asked Sora with raised eye brows.

"I think I heard my lungs pop," I offered and everyone's mouths formed little "Oh…"s.

"I think my brain gave out from lack of oxygen," muttered Riku as he and I stumbled into the house looking very worse for the wear. We plopped down on the couch; too tired to care that we were sitting next to each other.

"Who won?" asked Sora with interest.

"Tied," I blurted.

Riku and eye exchanged glances and I could've sworn he'd smiled at me with… affection? Nah… No way… That'd never happen…

Would it?

First chapter: from Riku's POV

I was sitting on the Paopu tree. Again, I know. I spend a lot of my time here these days. It makes me feel comfortable, and reminds me of the good old days. Sitting here with Sora and Kairi. Those two keep trying to get the "old me" back as they put it. Sora keeps telling me I'm growing distant. I guess it's true but I don't really care.

So I'm a little quieter, so what? It's not like that's a crime. I looked up at the sky wondering if Cid and the others had gotten here yet. If they did it would only be matter of time before they sent someone out here to come and get me. Or would they?

Suddenly I'm not so sure. It's not like it would make a difference if I went. I'm not going to talk much or anything in fact they probably don't even want me around soiling their fun. After all I-

_Sniff, sniff…_ I smell someone. I tilted my head slightly and looked at the water. Sure enough, there she was reflected in the water standing right behind me. Yuffie. The ninja-girl. Sora's friend. She looked like she was trying to surprise me. I smirked, _this should be interesting. _

"Hi," I said blandly.

She toppled over in surprise and let out a shout. I jumped own and held out my hand for her. She knocked it away angrily; I had to admit her reaction was almost… cute. _Almost. _I'm not an idiot; I was taking into account all the things Sora had told me about the crazy ninja.

"I don't need help!" she said proudly, jutting out her chin for good measure, "I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie!"

"Oh," I said allowing myself to smile a little at her behavior, "Sora's friend," I repeated my thoughts from earlier, _Did Sora and Kairi send her to get me? _"Yeah, right," I muttered sarcastically. I looked her over again, hands on hips, she looked so proud of herself the effect was kind of… hott. _Kind of. _"The loud, psycho ninja chick."

She looked like a fish out of the water with her perfectly shaped lips forming such a cute round "O" I wanted to- I shook my head. _Focus Riku! She's crazy, remember? You don NOT want to get "involved" with a total psychopath! Even if she is so- Oh HELL no!_

"Is that how Sora describes me?" she asked dully.

"Hmmm… Psycho, loud ninja yes… Chick no… I just added that it cause you're so hott," I said before I started walking away. If Sora or Kairi were here they'd be laughing at that line. I kept walking trying to convince myself I did not have the slightest emotions for her… I failed dismally. I turned to ask her something about herself maybe start up a conversation but she was twenty feet behind me.

"Are you okay?" I asked and her expression widened even more, I walked up to her and put her forehead on mine and my hand on top of her little mop of raven hair, "You feel a little warm… maybe we should hurry it up…" I said delicately.

Her eyes were like saucers and after a few seconds she shouted and toppled backwards her arms swinging wildly like pinwheels. I couldn't help it; she just looked so ridiculous I burst out laughing. I held out my hand again and this time, much to my relief, she took it without question. "I thought ninjas were supposed to be quiet and poised."

"Yeah, yeah, Silver…" she muttered, I blinked _Silver?_ "Laugh all you want."

I laughed little. _What's wrong with me? I haven't laughed this much in a long time,_ I thought to myself.

"Um… uh…" she stuttered snapping me out of my thoughts, "How old are you?"

"Um, sixteen, why?" I responded. Her face was twisted in horror, "Are you sure you're okay?" I asked voice laced with worry. She looked like she was having a heart attack.

"Yuffie? Yuffie?! Yuffie! YUFFIE!!!" I shouted as I tackled her. She looked like she was having a nervous break down I swear. Somehow as we both fell she ended up on top of me. _Not that I minded… It felt good… _

"Um, Yuffie?" I questioned and almost laughed when she looked around for me, I decided to take pity on her, "Mined getting off of me?" I asked sardonically. She looked down at me and blinked a few times before she leapt off.

"You're pretty weird," I said sticking my hands in my pockets as I started to walk down the beach towards to boats. She skipped ahead of me and spun around to face me hands on hips.

"Hey! You're too slow back there! Hurry it up!" she ordered. I shrugged it off and kept my pace. Sora and Kairi obviously did not tell them much about me. I do not run anymore unless I have to. And right then I didn't have to so tough luck Yuffie. Only it didn't look like Yuffie was okay with that. She reached out and grabbed my wrist firmly. I had to admit I was surprised. She began to drag me along and soon I felt myself allowing her to until finally I smiled and started rushing to get ahead. _Maybe I'll make an exception just this once… _

We raced neck and neck and didn't even pause before jumping in the boats . I hadn't run this fast since Demyx caught me stealing his cookie jar. She gained a little ground however when she flipped out of the boat. However I pulled double time to catch up and soon enough we were tied at Sora's house. Both of us doubled over gasping for breath. Actually it wasn't that bad… I had to admit I had held myself back just to stay with her though why I didn't know.

Then again seeing the look on her face, that look of self-accomplishment, I decided it was best not to tell her…

"Jesus, where are those two it's been forever since we sent Yuffie to get him!" I flinched, _Why does Sora have to be so damn loud? _Yuffie looked at me raised her eyebrows and nodded at the door. I shook my head at her and jerked my head in her direction. We continued this Kairi opened the door to find both of us looking very… Tired. What with sweat plastering our clothing to our bodies and of course dripping wet foreheads.

"Hey, Kairi," I said breathlessly. Soon Kairi was joined at the door by everybody else. Cloud raised his eyebrows skeptically.

"What happened to you to?" he asked.

I stood slowly and said, "We raced here." I looked at Yuffie to find that she was standing from her fetal position on the floor.

"How fast did you guys go?" asked Sora eyeing me strangely.

"I think I heard my lungs pop," said Yuffie and everyone flinched.

"I think my brain gave out form lack of oxygen," I added grudgingly as we pushed passed the others and hobbled into Sora's living room.

I plopped down on the couch and to my great surprise Yuffie sat next to me. _I guess she's too tired to notice, _I reasoned. Sora walked up and asked who had won.

I rolled my eyes; leave it to Sora to care about something like that… Then again I used to ask about stuff like that all the time… Oh well, I guess getting ripped out of you body by a complete and total psychopath can change your perspective a little…

"Tied," I said simply. Yuffie nodded fervently and for an instant I wondered what would happen if I put my arm around her shoulders like all the guys do in movies. This urge was instantly squelched when images of Yuffie going all kung fu/ninja-girl on me entered my mind. Subconsciously I edged away from the raven-haired female.

Normal POV

Later that day, once everyone had settled in at Sora's house, the group was watching a movie and eating pizza. Riku was watching Yuffie attempt to eat all the cheese off her pizza in one slurp with amusement and something that resembled affection in his eyes. Kairi of course, being a princess of heart and therefore good at reading emotions, noticed this.

"Uh, Sora?" she asked nudging said boy in the ribs a little.

"Yes, Kairi?" replied the brunette.

"Weren't you going to show me that… thing?"

Everyone turned to stare at Kairi, even Riku who had decided to avert his attention for the moment. Kairi looked around sheepishly.

"What thing?" asked Sora cluelessly; oblivious to the desperate glances Kairi was giving him.

"You know," said Riku cutting in to save Kairi's butt, "that thing that you told her you'd help her with for school? The social studies project right Kairi?" Riku shot Kairi a significant glance out of the corner of his eye.

"Yeah, don't you remember Sora?" asked Kairi, while silently reminding herself to thank Riku later.

"Uh, sure…" said Sora, "whatever you say… I guess…" Kairi grabbed Sora by the arm and led him upstairs.

Back in the living room, Riku rolled his eyes to the heavens as he returned his attention to Yuffie (who was now stacking sausages). _Those two are so clueless; _he thought to himself, _if they're ever going to get together they are definetly going to need my help… I wonder if Kairi's confessing right now… _His thoughts were interrupted when Yuffie's tower of sausages toppled over causing her to scream something Godzilla ruining her creation of beauty.

"Um, Kairi, what's going on?" asked Sora once the two had reached the top of the stairs, "Why'd you drag me up here?"

"Didn't you notice?" asked Kairi her voice was filled with the kind of excitement teenage girls can only get from one thing; gossip. She put her hands together and bounced on the balls of her feet.

"Notice what?" asked Sora, utterly baffled by her enthusiasm.

"The way Riku keeps staring at Yuffie," said Kairi rolling her eyes at the blank look on Sora's face.

"He does?" asked Sora in surprise.

"Yes," said Kairi exasperatedly, "Sora, isn't it obvious he _likes _her."

"Wha?" asked Sora.

"Riku. Likes. Yuffie." Said Kairi very slowly in order to spell it out for him as best she could. Sora's eyes widened and he shook his head fervently.

"No way," said Sora, "Riku doesn't like anybody."

"Sora that was mean," said Kairi sternly, "it's perfectly normal for a guy to like a girl."

"But what makes you think he likes her?" asked Sora stubbornly.

"One," Kairi held up a finger, "he keeps staring at her. Two," she raised the second finger, "when was the last time Riku raced or did anything fun with either of us?"

"Umm…" Sora had to admit that last question had him stumped.

"Exactly," said Kairi smugly, "but he raced with _Yuffie_. Sora," she said grabbing Sora's hand playfully, "I don't think I've seen him this happy in a long time."

"Well…" said Sora, still trying to get over the fact that Kairi was holding his hand, "What do you want to do about it? If he's happy isn't that a good thing?"

"Yes, it is a good thing," said Kairi, whose voice had taken on the tone one uses with children, "but we're talking about _Riku_ and _Yuffie_ here. They're both so clueless it'll take them forever on their own. We should play matchmaker."

"What's matchmaker?" asked Sora.

"It's when you set two people up and get them to fall in love."

"Oh… _Oh… _Gee, Kairi I don't know… I mean I'm not really that good with this stuff," Sora continued to mumble incoherently.

"We can ask Aerith and the others for help," Kairi went on with a gleam in her eyes Sora had never seen before.

"Um… Okay…" said Sora.

"Great! Well, let's go finish the movie now okay Sora?" Kairi asked grabbing Sora's hand and pulling him down the stairs to go and join the others.

Riku looked up when they came in… _Kairi's holding his hand?! Whoa, so that means… she really went and did it. Wow, I didn't think Kairi was that bold._

Aerith shot Kairi a suspicious look, Kairi shrugged at her and Aerith took this to mean: _later. _

The movie was half-way over. Cloud and Leon were munching popcorn, Aerith was sipping tea quietly, Kairi and Sora resumed their seats near the TV, Yuffie was trying to see how many gulps it would take her to drink her Pepsi, and Riku was "looking" at the screen but really he was watching Yuffie out of the corner of his eye.

Just as the movie was reaching its grand finale (they were watching _The Titanic_) all the girls started crying simultaneously. The boys looked around in total spastic shock; none of them knew what to do. The only girl that wasn't crying was Yuffie (_damn… _thought Riku. Yuffie turned around to the other girls and muttered something like "sissies".

The other girls all shot her teary glares. Yuffie laughed it off. Riku shot Yuffie an admiring look. He'd wanted to laugh at those girls for ages.

Cloud was the first guy to realize what to do. Slowly and awkwardly he put his arm around Aerith's shoulder and rubbed her back comfortingly.

When the credits started rolling everyone got up and stretched.

"Well," said Riku, "I've now seen that movie thirty-four times… due to Kairi's obsession with it… I think my life now has meaning," he added dryly.

"I know what you mean," said Yuffie jerking her thumb in Aerith's direction.

"What is it with girls who like pink and _The Titanic_?" asked Riku.

"We'll never know," said Yuffie.

"Hey, Kairi," said Aerith as she suddenly remembered Kairi's significant glance she'd given her earlier.

"Yes?" asked Kairi.

"I have some new make-up I want o show you! C'mon!"

Who knew Aerith was such a good liar. She continued to give Kairi a run through of the "make up she'd bought" knowing that it would drive everyone else (including Yuffie) away. When they were safely in the guest room Aerith was sleeping in (with Cloud) Aerith shut the door and turned to Kairi.

"Spill." Well, it looks like Aerith takes her gossip seriously.

"Alright," said Kairi sighing happily, "Sora and I… well Sora doesn't really care… You know how it is with boys."

Aerith nodded and motioned for Kairi to continue.

"Well, during the movie," said Kairi, putting her hands together and giggling a little, "I noticed that Riku," she paused for dramatic effect (call it 'artist's license), "was staring at Yuffie."

Aerith was speechless. There was only one way to describe her expression: agog. Her mouth was gaping and her eyes were wide.

"Riku… Who?" she stuttered over her words.

"He likes her! I just know it!" cried Kairi giddily.

"That…" Aerith stopped to think, "That… That's so CUTE!!!"

"I know! But there so clueless!" said Kairi.

Aerith stopped to consider this, "Yeah, you have a point… They need some help."

"But we can't let them know we're trying to set them up," said Kairi quickly, "knowing Riku he'd hate it if he thought someone else was trying to control him… He's very stubborn that way… Ever since the whole 'possession by Ansem thing'," said Kairi.

"Hah! You think he's bad?" asked Aerith, "You don't know Yuffie."

The two fell silent for a whole minute.

"Wow…"

"Mm-hm…"

"If we get caught matchmaking…"

"Mm-hm…"

"They'll butcher us alive…"

Aerith and Kairi stared at the wall for a moment; images of Riku and Yuffie induced terror racing through their minds.

"But," said Aerith clenching her fists, "it'll be worth it!"

"Yes," agreed Kairi assuming the same fighting position as Aerith, "for the good of LOVE!"

"Fighting!" they both cried in unison.

"Where are they?" asked Sora impatiently, "The food's getting cold and I'm hungry." He stamped his foot in irritation.

"Knowing Kairi," said Riku from his seat at the table, "it'll be another hour."

"Pfft! Knowing Aerith," said Yuffie, "it'll probably be more like four hours."

Cloud and Sora shot them both glares from there standing positions near the staircase Aerith and Kairi had disappeared up earlier.

"Maybe I should go check on them," said Cloud.

"coughPossesivecough," Riku continued to 'cough' things that resembled 'overprotective', 'obsessive', and 'paranoid'. Yuffie and Riku burst out laughing and gave each other high fives over the table; all the while being shot glares from Cloud and Sora. Cloud started heading up the stairs. He stopped when Leon said:

"Do you _want _to get a beauty makeover, blondie?"

Cloud instantly froze, walked back down the stairs hastily and resumed his position next to Sora. He looked shaken.


	2. Pulling Us Together

Chapter two

Ten minutes after Leon had scared the wits out of Cloud, Aerith and Kairi came down the stairs giggling madly. Cloud (assuming Leon had been right) whimpered. He looked in a nearby mirror. All it took was one glimpse of his precious face to set him off.

Cloud dove behind a couch and assumed the fetal position. Cowering with his hands held protectively over his sacred hair.

"Hm? What's wrong, sweetie?" Aerith asked bending over the couch to peer at "her blonde".

"Please! Please don't give me a makeover!" Cloud cried coming out from behind the couch with his hands clasped together in a pleading manner.

"Huh? Makeover? Cloud what are you talking about?" asked Aerith.

"But… but…" Cloud looked over at Riku, Yuffie and Sora who were laughing their asses off. Then he turned his gaze to Leon. Leon was smirking.

"Meanie," Cloud huffed, getting back on his feet.

"Okay…?" said Kairi eyeing Cloud and the other people strangely from the corner of her eyes.

"What took you guys so long?" asked Sora indignantly; putting on his trademark pout. Kairi almost wanted to laugh; Sora was sixteen and yet he still whined like a little kid.

"Like I said," said Aerith, "we were looking at my new make-up." She and Kairi both glanced at Riku and burst into fits of giggles.

_Oh boy… _thought Riku, _this can **not** be good… _

Once Kairi and Aerith recovered they sat down at the table and everyone began to eat. Unknown to Riku half the people at the table were staring at him. Sora was trying to find out if what Kairi had said about Riku staring at Yuffie was true, Kairi and Aerith were of course watching him for reasons too obvious to state. Now, you might be wondering why the usually poised, on-alert, focused, and most of all cool silver-haired teen wasn't noticing this increase in attention.

Riku didn't notice because he was too preoccupied watching Yuffie slurping all her noodles down in one gulp and of course trying to stack a tower of rice (keyword there: trying). And Yuffie didn't notice because she was too busy slurping noodles and stacking rice. Duh.

Cid, Cloud and Leon were oblivious. Perfectly content with just eating their food. Leon might've noticed the strange new direction everyone was looking in but if he did he didn't say anything. This is Leon we're talking about here.

"So," said Kairi standing up and yawning exaggeratedly, "I'm really tired (yawn) so I think I'll just go home now!" she waved cheerfully as she headed towards the door.

"Wait Kairi," said Sora, "I thought everyone was sleeping over at my place today!" Sora looked confused; indeed they had all made plans for a sleepover at Sora's.

"No I'm not silly," said Kairi sweetly, "don't you remember? My mom's, uh, sick… with the flu. Yes! The flu! And I have to go home right away, uh-huh, that's right!" Kairi's mouth was going a mile a minute and though her voice remained sugar-coated there was something unusually evil about it.

Poor Sora was so lost.

Riku watched the whole scene with detached interest, just wishing they'd get this "lovers' quarrel" thing over with so that Yuffie would get back to her rice tower.

"It's okay, Kairi," said Aerith, "I'm sure it'd be fine if you'd stay!"

"But if her mothers si- ow!" Cloud stared at Aerith as he rubbed his sore foot.

"I'm sure Kairi's mother will be fine," said Aerith; barely concealing the iciness in her voice.

"Yeah, Kairi's dad'll take care of her," put in Riku, trying to help the two girls along.

"Okay…" said Sora. _'Wait… I'm confused… is Kairi staying over or not?' 'Um… I'm not sure… why'd she change her mind like that?' 'And why did Aerith ask her to stay?' 'I'm so confused!' 'Wagh!' 'Ack!' 'Uhhh…' 'Bleh…'_

"Sora? Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Sora looked up to see Kairi and Riku kneeling over him.

"Dude, you had a freakin spaz attack," said Riku putting a hand over Sora's forehead, "you do feel a little warm… are you feeling alright?"

"Uh, y- yeah," Sora said shakily, trying to remember the last time Riku had talked to him like this… like an older brother, like he cared at all, "yeah… I was just thinking…"

"A thinking head ache?" asked Riku lightly laughing a little.

"Only you could pull that off Sora," said Kairi ruffling his hair affectionately.

"Hey!" pouted Sora. Everyone burst out laughing except for Cid who was shoveling through his food like it was his last meal.

Sora stared at Riku. And for the first time he realized Kairi was right. This thing Riku had for Yuffie was making him… happier. Sora couldn't recall the last time Riku had laughed like that. Or smiled like that. In fact lately Riku had been downright depressed but now he was so much like the old Riku.

"Uh… Sora?"

"Yeah?"

"You're freaking me out. Like seriously worrying me."

Sora blinked around at everyone, they were all staring at him.

"What's wrong?"

"You were staring at Riku," Kairi pointed out.

"Oh… sorry… Guess I kinda spaced," Sora laughed and scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Uh, you kinda spaced while staring at his chest," muttered Yuffie dryly and, Aerith and Kairi noted, just a little possessively.

"Whatever," sighed Riku.

Sora laughed again before he sat down and started eating. Riku resumed his staring and order was restored. After all the boys finished eating they started setting up sleeping bags in the living room.

"How are we all going to fit down here?" asked Cloud.

"Yeah," said Leon turning to look at Sora, "you don't have enough sleeping bags."

"Well," said Kairi, "we could all share."

All the boys stared at her.

"Um, maybe I'll just sleep in my room," said Cloud quietly.

"Oh c'mon," said Aerith, "it'll be fun." She nudged Cloud in the ribs a few times.

"Yeah," Kairi chimed in, "let's make it two to a sleeping bag," she added determinedly avoiding Riku's questioning stare.

"Why don't we draw names?" asked Aerith. She and Kairi were making a great team. It was like they were reading each other's minds as they went along.

"Yes, yes, yes," said Kairi nodding fervently, "in fact Aerith and I will get started on making the names right now!" Kairi and Aerith left without another word.

"How… odd…" said Leon quietly.

"Yeah, I'm a little lost," agreed Sora.

"Eh, don't try ta understand women folk," said Cid gruffly.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" asked Kairi eagerly once she and Aerith had arrived in the guest room.

Aerith gave her an 'are you stupid look', "It's obvious isn't it?"

Kairi shook her head, "Sorry, I'm a little new to this game… I only started a month ago so forgive me…" she bowed her head, "I'm not as learned in the arts as you are."

"It's okay," said Aerith, "you've got potential. Okay so here's the plan. We get a hat full of little papers…"

"Right and put everyone's names on them," said Kairi, "but how do we make sure Riku picks Yuffie?"

"It's simple," said Aerith, "we put Yuffie's name on every one of them!"

"Oh, okay!" said Kairi, catching on, "but… wait… What about the others? They can't all pick Yuffie!" Aerith stopped to think for a minute.

"Um… I'm not sure…" she admitted.

"Can I be of some help?"

Aerith and Kairi spun around. Sora was standing in the door way.

"Sora? Oh… uh we were just… um," Aerith was at a loss for words. It was obvious Sora had heard every word of their conversation.

"I know exactly what you were doing," said Sora sternly, Aerith and Kairi's faces fell, "And I want to help."

Both heads snapped up to look at Sora as if they were seeing him for the first time.

"What?" asked Kairi blankly.

"Look," said Sora sitting down on the carpet cross-legged in imitation of Aerith and Kairi, "I was watching at dinner and I think you're right. This whole Yuffie thing is making Riku a lot more pleasant… It's almost like having the old Riku back… You know the one who wasn't so absorbed in his own problems and actually cared about the rest of us." Kairi and Aerith stared at Sora flabbergasted.

"That's the second time today that you've said something that made sense," Kairi pointed out.

"When was the first?" asked Aerith.

"Never mind," said Kairi waving her hand airily.

"So Sora," Aerith scooted over to the brunette, "do you have any ideas?"

"Actually I do," said Sora puffing his chest out proudly.

"Okay, which is?"

"Well after Riku picks Yuffie's name out of the hat… I'll steal the hat!" he proclaimed.

…

"What? I thought it was a good idea! What's wrong?"

"That's so stupid…" said Aerith.

"Tactless…" muttered Kairi shaking her head sadly.

Sora pouted and a heavy silence set in.

"Although," Kairi said slowly, "seeing as Sora would be the one stealing the hat…"

"Yes," said Aerith catching on, "it wouldn't be too different from his normal behavior… And you did drink a lot of soda too so you're naturally going to be more hyper than usual…"

"It could work," said Kairi finally.

"See?" said Sora excitedly.

"Alright," said Aerith, "let's try it."

And with that the three of them put their heads together. First making the hat filled with all of Yuffie's papers and second writing everyone else's names down so that Sora could switch them quickly.

"They're taking forever," groaned Riku as he continued to bang his head on the wall. Cloud glanced up at the stairs.

"I thought Sora was going up there to speed it along," he said.

"Please," said Riku taking a brake to rub his aching forehead, "Sora's probably slowing them down."

"Grr…" Cid grumbled marching over to the stairway, "YO! Ladies?! Get your asses down here pronto!"

"Alright! Jeez, Cid could you be any louder?!"

Aerith came prancing down the stairs followed by Kairi and Sora, who was grinning suspiciously.

"Tada!" cried Kairi presenting them all with a round bowler hat that was filled with little pieces of paper.

"You go first Riku!" Aerith proclaimed clapping her hands together.

"Why Riku?" asked Cloud suspiciously.

"Because he's the hottest guy here! Now shaddup!" snapped Aerith. Cloud went over to the corner and sulked.

Riku shrugged and plunged his hand into the hat and pulled out a slip of paper.

_'Yuffie'_

Riku stared at the paper for five seconds. _'This is impossible!' _he shouted in his mind, _'How did I pick **Yuffie **of all people?! It's like some force of nature is drawing me to her! Man… Is this what love is? Cause it's scary… I swear there's some higher force trying to set us up… _Riku didn't notice Sora, Kairi and Aerith grinning behind him.

"Well?" asked Kairi snapping Riku out of it, "Who'd ya get, huh? Huh?"

"Yuffie," said Riku showing them the paper.

On the couch Yuffie was staring at the paper as if it might explode.

_Oh my God! Selphie was right! The Heavens are trying to set me up! The power of Twelve O'clock is working! Riku… Fate hath brought us together on this fine day. Twill it be love?_ Yuffie shook her head, _Now I sound like Selphie and Namine after they read their stupid girls, magazines… Well there's no way I'm gonna let them get to me! This is just coincidence! It has to be! I do not and will not love him! And that's it!_

"Yaah!" Sora's battle cry shook Yuffie and Riku from their thoughts. In one quick motion he snatched the hat from Kairi and ran upstairs cackling like a lunatic.

"Sora! Bring those back!" cried Kairi.

"What is wrong with him?" asked Cloud.

"Well," Aerith offered, "he did drink a lot of soda at dinner…"

"I guess," said Cloud.

"Hi guys," said Sora as he came back down the stairs and with the hat in hand.

"Sora, what was that?" asked Riku.

"What do you mean?" asked Sora blankly.

"Why'd you steal the hat?" prompted Cloud.

"It's even outside your normal behavior," Leon added.

Aerith and Kairi exchanged nervous glances. It wasn't working.

"Oh…. Um…" Sora thought for a moment. And then suddenly it dawned on him; you could almost see the light bulb clicking on over his head, "it looked like it was going to attack you all so I had to go yell at it a little."

"Huh?" asked Cloud. Leon was massaging his forehead.

"Ho boy," he said, "I actually think my IQ went down listening to that."

"Well, you know how Sora gets when he drinks too much pop," said Kairi.

"Yes, I do," said Riku, "and he's never gotten this wired."

Aerith, Kairi and Sora waited for the blow to fall. Of course Riku knew all about Sora's normal sugar high behavior. He'd been Sora's best friends since they were both in diapers. _I should've known Riku wouldn't fall for it, _moaned Kairi, _the others may be fooled but Riku's gonna see right through us…_

Riku was staring hard at Sora and Sora was caving under the pressure. He was sweating and laughing nervously like he always does when he's nervous.

_Crap, _groaned Aerith, _Sora's no good with this kind of stuff._

Sora was falling fast. His face was red and sweaty, he kept laughing quietly, and he'd even started scratching the back of his neck.

"You're sweating," said Riku causing another wave of heat to come on, "and you're laughing fretfully… and," he paused to stare at Sora firmly, "you're scratching the back of your neck." At these words Riku turned his attention to Kairi and Aerith.

"Something is up," he stated; folding his arms and looking at them imposingly.

"What are you talking about?" squeaked Aerith.

"Hey, c'mon Riku," said Cloud; he didn't like the way Riku was staring down Aerith, "you're being paranoid."

Kairi glanced at the door to Aerith's room subconsciously. That was where Sora had dumped out the Yuffie papers. Riku followed her glance and slowly and deliberately he started walking up the steps.

"Uh, wait… Riku!"

"Yes, Kairi?" asked Riku mockingly as he stopped on the stairway, turned around, and eyed his friend in mock curiosity.

"Don't… I mean… shouldn't you…? Uh…" Kairi picked up the ball and ran with it. But then she tripped.

"What she means is…" Sora made a great recovery but then let it fall.

"Shouldn't you wait till the rest of us have picked our partners?" asked Aerith making the goal for them all.

"There's enough sleeping bags," Riku pointed out, "we just need to spread them out a little more," he added coldly before continuing his march up the stairway. Aerith, Kairi, and Sora could hear the funeral bells ringing.

Slowly and deliberately Riku opened the door to the room.

Everyone is quiet. Aerith, Kairi and Sora are waiting with baited breath. Even Cid, Leon, Cloud and Yuffie have sensed something's wrong. Drastically wrong. Because if it's important enough to worry Sora… The same Sora that didn't even flinch when Leon was yelling at him for wrecking his iPod well… It's bad.

Slowly Riku's foot steps stop. Aerith turns to Sora and for one moment it's like the two have a pychic connection.

_Sora… please tell me you had time to put the Yuffie papers somewhere safe…_

_Um… No… Oh God he's going to hate us! After the Ansem episode he's been… _

_Well where are they?_

_On the floor…_

Aerith closed her eyes and briefly imagined Riku staring at the papers on the floor and what he must be feeling. She opened them just in time to see Riku walking out of the room silently.

Sora would've preferred it if Riku had yelled. Anything would've been netter than the steely look in his eyes right now. Greenish aqua filled with pain, anger, hatred, indignation and worst of all… betrayal.

"Idiots."

_Slam!_

And just like that Riku had walked out on the sleep over.

"What the hell?" asked Cid.

"What did you guys do?" asked Cloud.

"It's kind of a long story…"

"Aren't any of you gonna go after him?" asked Yuffie.

"No," said Sora and seeing Yuffie's expression he added, "listen you don't know Riku like I do… When he gets like this there's no talking to him…"

"But you're his best friend!" she exclaimed.

"Right. And that's how I know this stuff. Just hear me out, it's best not to follow him."

"I won't stand for this," Yuffie grumbled, "and if none of you are going then I guess I'll go." She yanked the door open and stopped out into the night air.

Sora and Kairi flopped onto the couch. Their friendship with Riku had been strained enough as it was. Especially after he tried to kill Sora. I mean, hello? Awkward much? Sora was miserable. Kairi was had been hurt by Riku's words… er, word.

The small bond they'd managed to grow back had dissipated with that one mistake.

It took Yuffie a while to catch up with Riku. She found him sitting on the beach. Not the small kiddie island mind you. Just the beach. In the exact spot Kairi had been standing when she'd sent the letter in the bottle to Sora. Not that Riku knew this. Just a fun fact.

"Hi," said Yuffie as she came up from behind him.

Riku didn't even give any sign that he'd noticed her.

"You okies?" she asked cutely.

Still nothing. Yuffie was beginning to get a little miffed.

"Listen, about what happened back there… you wanna talk about it?"

Riku's back was to her and he didn't make any movements.

Yuffie blew a few strands of black hair out of her eyes and sighed huffily.

"Well, if you don't want to talk… I guess I'll just go inside then… I only wanted to help… since no one else was coming back for you…"

She waited for a response, a comment, a "good-bye". Silence.

"Alright I guess I'll be seeing you," she muttered as she made to get up.

"Wait."

She froze and turned to look at Riku who still hadn't taken his eyes off the ocean.

"You can stay."

Yuffie sighed and sat down next to Riku.

"So," she said happily, "you want to talk? I'm not a good listener but I'll try…"

"What did they say?"

"Huh?"

"Sora and Kairi. What did they say? How did they describe me to you all when you guys were making the arrangements for you, Leon, Cid and Cloud to come here? What did they say about me?"

"Um…" Yuffie was completely taken aback, "well…"

"Just be honest. Completely honest," Riku added, "I'm not in the mood for anymore lies."

"Well," Yuffie took a deep breath, "first they told us all the things you did to help them during and after Sora was asleep," Yuffie paused and waited for a response or some sign of emotion, Riku frowned a little, "the they talked about how you'd been really depressed lately and that…" she stopped and cut herself off.

Riku turned to look at her, "Well? Go on. I want to know."

"Uh, they said that it seemed like you didn't care about life or anyone else anymore and that… Um, you were really withdrawn and you… used to be like… like a big brother to them. Always looking out for them and… stuff. But now it was like they were the ones dragging you around and looking out for you."

Yuffie stopped abruptly. Riku was shaking. She placed a hand on his shoulder. And before the young ninja knew what was happening riku was sobbing unrestrainedly into her shoulder. After a few minutes he stopped and his breathing returned to normal.

"You know," said Yuffie thoughtfully, "I don't think you're that depressed."

"Well," said Riku, "I actually have been lately."

Yuffie stared at Riku, "Not from what I've seen."

"That's because everything you've seen took place while you were there."

Riku stood and started walking. Yuffie blinked a few times as she tried to figure out his words. When she did she blushed.

"C'mon, we should head back now," Riku held out his hand and slowly and hesitantly Yuffie took it as the two headed back to Sora's house together.


	3. Not Normal

Chapter three

"Sora, I'm worried," Kairi murmured, "really worried… They still haven't come back yet… What if Riku got mad at Yuffie and hurt her? What if Riku did something really bad or careless? What if he killed himself?! Sora?!" Kairi's voice was high and shrill; Riku had never been that mad at her before.

"I know! Don't you think I'm thinking about that?!"

Kairi fell silent; slightly startled by Sora's frustrated response.

"Alright," said Leon massaging his temple, "what exactly did you guys do?"

Nobody said anything.

"Aerith?" Aerith looked at the floor and played with her braid.

"Kairi?" Kairi fiddled around with the purple ribbon on her bag/purse/thing.

"Sora?" Sora hummed tunelessly and kicked his feet up and down.

Leon decided Sora was the weakest link.

"Sora?"

"You want to talk about it? Sora?_ Sora?_"

Sora bit his lip and determinedly avoided Leon's gaze.

"C'mon Sora, please? I know you won't let me down. Want to tell me what happened?" Leon prompted.

"Nope."

"No?"

"Yes… 'Nope'."

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Jesus, Leon give him a brake!" Aerith shouted shrilly.

Silences set in again. Everyone was looking around uncomfortably.

"SO should we wait for them or go to sleep?"

No one answered. Cid looked around hopefully at all of them and grunted when they didn't answer.

"I'll take that as a: _'Cid just shut the hell up and get out of our way, you dumb ass!'" _Cid grumbled as he flopped down in his sleeping bag and went to sleep.

Once again a hushed silence fell over the entire room. Leon was leaning against the wall staring at Sora and Kairi wondering what on Earth they could've done to make their "best friend" so pissed. Cloud was watching Aerith worriedly; she was still twisting her golden brown hair around in concern. Cid's back was rising in slow motions.

Kairi and Sora's eyes were flitting in between each other and the window.

After a while Leon moved over the window and watched the street intently. Minutes ticked by slowly until finally a quarter of an hour had passed and there still was no sign of the crazy ninja or the teenage angst bucket.

"Hey! There they are!"

Sora and Kairi bolted for the window followed by an extremely nervous Aerith and a highly confused Cloud.

Yuffie and Riku were walking up toward the house slowly.

And hand in hand.

…

"Um… Whoa… Did we miss something?" asked Cloud.

"Uh… I guess so," replied Kairi pressing her face into the glass for an even better view of the two love birds.

After three minutes the doorbell rang and Riku and Yuffie were standing in the doorway. When they came in and started taking off their shoes, the gang that had stayed at Sora's noted the Riku's eyes were a little red and puffy.

_Hmmm… This requires further investigation…_ thought Aerith and Kairi simultaneously in their minds. Riku sighed grumpily before turning on Sora.

"Right," he began sternly as Sora shrank back a little under his penetrating stare, "this is how it's gonna be: 1) no more funny business, if I catch one whiff of trouble you guys," his eyes swept over Aerith, Kairi and Sora glaringly, "are dead. And I mean it. I will find out if you guys try anything else," he paused for breath, "2) we never speak of this again. It's done and in the past. But you better not try it again. Got it?" Fervent nodding, "Okay… 3) I'm… I'll tell you later…" He walked away leaving the rest of the group standing by the door.

"Wait… What are you gonna tell us later?" asked Sora.

Riku waved a hand over his shoulder breezily to brush it off.

Sora and the others shrugged and followed Riku into the living room where Riku was lying down in a sleeping bag; already half-asleep.

"Yuffie?"

Everyone turned to look at the ninja girl who was smiling mysteriously.

"What happened?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," she chirped as she too went and picked out a sleeping bag. Once again the group as a whole decided they'd find out later and one by one they all picked a spot to sleep.

The next morning the gang woke up, ate breakfast, and (going along with Riku's list of demands) they did not mention last night's events at all. It was as if it had never happened. Even Riku and Yuffie were perfectly normal with each other. Well sort of…

All the others had to admit… you couldn't really call this _normal_…

"So how's your day been so far?"

Silver hair shifted a little as Riku turned to look up at Yuffie who was staring politely down at him.

"Oh, it's been fine… And yours?"

"Splendid."

It was definetly one of the creepier days in Kairi and Sora's teenage lives.

"Um, are you guys going to keep this up all morning?" asked Cloud eyeing the two.

"Keep what up?"

"Yes, Cloud, whatever do you mean?"

"Um… You know… talking like this…" Cloud's voice trailed off as the harsh reality that these two were going to remain stubborn about acting like this set in.

"Acting like what?"

"Yes, I'm afraid I don't understand you."

"Would you care to elaborate on that?"

"Oh yes, please do."

"Um… uh… well… you know… er…" Cloud's hand fell to his side uselessly.

"I think he means," Leon butted in, "you guys are acting really polite and it's kind of weird… So we were just wondering when you were planning on stopping this."

Kairi and Sora looked at Leon in awe. _Wow, _thought both of them, _Leon's so commanding… How mature!_

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about," said Riku coldly getting up, "so if you don't mind I'll just be leaving now."

"Yes that sounds like a simply wonderful idea," Yuffie added in a stuffy voice.

When they reached the door Riku stopped and opened it for Yuffie.

"Ladies first."

"Why thank you. How thoughtful."

Their exchange was stiff and almost forced.

When the door slammed shut everyone ran over to the window and watched Yuffie head right down the street as Riku went left, towards the beach.

"I'll take Riku," said Sora turning to Leon, "you take Yuffie."

Leon sighed and rubbed his forehead. This was going to take some working out.

"Riku! Hey Riku!"

Riku turned around to see Sora running to catch up with him.

"What do you want?" he asked bluntly; polite act completely gone and out the window. Sora looked a little taken aback when he realized Riku wasn't sugar-coating his voice anymore.

"So you're only doing that around Yuffie?" he asked rubbing the back of his neck.

"What are you talking about?" asked Riku coldly, stuffing his hands further into his pant's pockets.

"You know what I mean," said Sora sternly, cobalt blue eyes narrowing dangerously. Riku sighed and his shoulders slumped.

"Yeah… okay…" he muttered.

"Why are you doing this?" Sora asked quietly.

"…"

"C'mon Riku," Sora prodded gently, carefully avoiding any sore spots, "What are you two trying to accomplish by acting like this?"

"I don't know," Riku admitted in defeat.

"Well, to tell you the truth," said Sora in that maternal child-like tone only he could master, "to be honest it looks really stupid." Riku bristled at that comment.

"Whatever," he said darkly, Sora took a deep breath; he was treading on dangerous ground.

"Well, are you planning on stopping anytime soon?" asked Sora delicately.

"I'll stop when she stops," huffed Riku, sounding very much like a little kid.

"Okay Riku…" said Sora slowly eyeing his best friend.

"What?" asked Riku noticing Sora's gaze.

"Nothing, never mind."

"Whatever," came the cold reply.

"Hey Riku?"

_"What?" _Oh, snappish.

"What was it you were going to tell us later?" asked Sora; bracing himself for yelling and frustrated cries of hatred.

"Oh that…"

Sora looked up when he heard Riku's soft tone. Riku was facing away from him, his shoulders were slumped and he was shaking a little. Sora couldn't tell for sure but he could've sworn he heard a sniff.

"It's just… it's nothing…" Riku's voice was less than a whisper and Sora had to lean in to hear him.

"Are you sure? Wouldn't you rather tell me now while no one else is around?" asked Sora; the brunette smirked when he saw Riku's back stiffen. He knew he'd hit the mark, it was obvious from last night it wasn't something Riku didn't want to say in front of a group of people.

Riku sighed and turned to face Sora. Sora had to keep his face impassive, if only to cover up the look of concern that had popped up for a second when he'd noticed Riku's red rimmed eyes and quickly reddening nose.

"It's just that… I'm… I'm sorry…"

"Wha?" Sora had to keep from falling over.

_That's it? I was kind of expecting something more… dramatic and angsty… more like Riku… 'King of the Angst Buckets'… Heh heh… Oh wait! Riku's talking again!_

"I know you and Kairi are really used to looking up to me and… whatever… all that 'brotherly stuff'… well… I also know that lately… I've been really… um… self-absorbed? Yeah… something like that…"

"Riku what-

Riku held up a hand to silence Sora's questions.

"Let me finish 'kay? This isn't easy for me, doofus, and I don't want to get interrupted," Sora nodded and Riku's speech resumed, "So like I was saying… I'm really sorry… I just keep letting you and Kairi down and it's not fair for me to get so upset… I don't deserve it…"

"Deserve what?" asked Sora, then he clamped a hand over his mouth remembering Riku's orders. But it didn't look like the silver haired teen minded. He didn't seem to paying much attention to his surroundings.

"Feeling depressed… I mean after everything I've done I'm still just moping around and pushing my problems on you all…"

Riku's voice sounded so distant and his eyes had that faraway gleam that Sora remembered Riku getting beck when they were making the raft.

"Riku, that's not true," said Sora softly.

Riku turned to face Sora; the hardened look returning into his eyes that Sora had grown so accustomed to the past year or so, "Oh, please… Spare me… I'm a total idiot and you know it."

"No you're not!" said Sora raising his voice, "Your only problem is that you can't see that everyone else has forgiven you! You just need to forgive yourself…"

"You just don't get it do you?" asked Riku icily, "It doesn't matter if you guys forgive me or not! None of that crap matters, cause in the end I still don't deserve it!"

Riku stormed off leaving Sora standing there at a loss.

_I thought I was getting to him…_

"Yuffie, let's try to make this as painless as possible."

Yuffie's head whirled around to face Leon's, eyes flashing dangerously.

"Don't start with me Leon, I don't need your lectures. Got it?"

"Yuffie," Leon began tiredly rubbing the bridge of his nose, "listen to me. I'm your friend. So listen to what I have to say. Alright? Good." He took a deep breath before continuing.

"Yuffie, you and Riku can't keep this up you know."

A snort, "Think I don't know that? Jesus, Leon, it's his own fault for acting so stupid. I have no problems… Go talk to Mr. Emo. He's the one who started… And you know what? You can tell him Yuffie said: _"I'll stop when you stop, dumbass." _

Yuffie walked away stuffily.

Leon cursed under his breath.

_Oh well… Maybe Sora's having better luck with Riku…_

Riku cursed under his breath as he sat on the beach, the very picture of an angst driven teen. Riku could have been a model for one of those pictures of "troubled teens" you see in Health books and parenting magazines. Riku almost laughed as the image of him as a model crossed his mind's eye.

"Hey Riku!"

"Oh… Hey Tidus…"

"Something wrong? You're all by yourself," said Tidus.

"So are you," Riku pointed out numbly, "where's Selphie and Wakka?"

"Wakka's off on a date with Lulu and Selphie's off spying on the two," said Tidus, he seemed unfazed by Riku's attitude.

"Why aren't you off stalking them along with her?" he asked bluntly; not even bothering to cover up his impatience.

"Are you trying to get rid of me?" asked Tidus blandly.

"I honestly couldn't give a damn over whether or not you hang around bugging me," said Riku flatly. Tidus's smile only widened.

"Suit yourself," he said smirking, for a moment Riku thought he was going to leave him alone, but then to his great surprise Tidus sat down next to him, "If you're sure you don't mind." Tidus smirked at the look of annoyance on Riku's face.

"Whatever," he scoffed, quickly covering up his look of irritation with one of cold indifference.

"So," said Tidus leaning back casually, "did you and Kairi and Sora have a fight or something? You seem pretty pissed off about something."

"I'm not mad about anything Tidus, and stop swearing… You're really bad at it."

"That's true," said Tidus laughing a little, "I'm nothing compared to you, eh? Mr. Potty-mouth?" Riku bristled at that one.

He quickly turned his cough of indignation into a cough, aqua eyes glancing over at the sandy-haired boy.

"You want to talk about?"

"With who? You? Since when have you been Mr. Understanding?" asked Riku sarcastically.

"Well, I just figured you'd like to talk it over with a neutral third party," said Tidus matter-of-factly.

"And that would be you?" asked Riku.

"Well… If you don't want to," said Tidus wearily and he sighed and got up.

"Leaving?"

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" asked Tidus smiling at Riku knowingly.

"N- No, of course not!" stuttered Riku, and Tidus's smile grew.

"Well, if you're sure," he said taking a few steps away.

"Thanks for trying though."

Tidus's eyes widened and he turned to look at Riku; who was looking at the floor determinedly.

"For what?" asked the younger of the two.

"Trying to make me feel better."

Tidus smiled good-naturedly, "Anytime."

"Whatever."

And with that Tidus walked away.

_That Riku… He's so stubborn… and predictable… Maybe mom was right about me being better at being a psychologist than playing blitzball… Oh well… Wonder what's got Riku so miffed…_

"Kairi! Kairi!"

"Sora? What's wrong?" Kairi was sitting in her bedroom at home putting her stuff she'd brought to Sora's house for the sleep over away. She turned to just in time to catch a glimpse of wild, brown, spiky hair come flying at her.

Suddenly she felt a weight on her lap and slowly she looked down to see Sora crying on her lap.

"Sora? What happened? Did you catch up with Riku?" Kairi asked. Sora choked out a 'yes' and Kairi's worry increased ten-fold.

"Well… what's wrong?" she asked.

"He's so… why does he always push us away when we try to help him?" asked Sora in a strained voice. Big puffy blue eyes stared up at Kairi.

Kairi's heart gave a twinge of pain looking down at Sora in this state. Sora's sobs became muffled as Kairi bent over to hug him; pressing him closely into her chest.

Neither kid was aware of the other couple watching them.

"Aw, Kairi and Sora are so cute together," sighed Aerith dreamily.

"Yeah," agreed Cloud, "Kairi's good for him."

"You're right," said Aerith, "you know," she added looking up at Cloud, "Sora may not look it but deep down he's really pretty sweet."

"He's not the only one," murmured Cloud softly, eyes not leaving Aerith's face; which was quickly turning red.

"Yeah," whispered Aerith looking down at the floor a little, "you are too…"

"Actually," said Cloud, "I was talking about you… but that's okay. You're idea works too."

Aerith laughed a little as Cloud pulled her closer.

"Hey, I've got an idea," said Cloud.

"What is it?" asked Aerith peering up at Cloud curiously.

"Why don't we go for a walk? Sora told me there were some great ice cream shops nearby… I'm pretty sure we could go to those places without getting lost."

"How nearby?" asked Aerith stifling a little yawn, "I'm kind of tired from the sleep over."  
"Hm," Cloud looked down at Aerith thoughtfully, "That's not a problem. If you fall asleep I can carry you."

"I'll bet," said Aerith smiling cutely.

"C'mon," said Cloud, grabbing her by the hand and leading her to the doorway.

"Okay…" said a very sleepy Aerith.

It took about twenty minutes to reach the nearest ice cream shop, but overall Cloud was right. The shop was close enough so that no one new to the Islands would get lost going there.

"Sora was right," said Aerith in awe as she checked out the pink themed shop, "this place is so cute!" Cloud seemed to be a little nervous being surrounded by so much pink.

"Uh-huh," he said dismally, but Aerith didn't seem to notice his tone.

"C'mon! What flavor do you want to get?" asked Aerith tugging at his sleeve.

"Um… uh…" Cloud eyed the assortment of colorful flavors, "Paopu." He said deciding finally.

"Really?" asked Aerith with wide-eyes, "Wow, Cloud I didn't think you liked really sweet stuff."

"Sorry," said Cloud.

"No that's okay. Oh, I know!" Aerith looked at Cloud smiling brightly, "Why don't I get cherry and then we can share!"

"That sounds good," said Cloud nodding a little.

"Okay," said Aerith turning to the cash register person, "one cherry and one paopu."

"Coming, right up ma'am," chimed the girl behind the counter.

Aerith and Cloud waited for their orders by the counter. When they arrived the two headed over to a seat by the window and sat down; they had a great view of the beach from their position.

"Hey Aerith," said Cloud thoughtfully.

"Yes?" asked Aerith turning her attention to the blonde man.

"You know what you said about Riku being the best looking guy in the room? Well… You didn't really believe that do you?" Aerith's head snapped up and she stared at Cloud from across the table.

"Wha? Of course not! I'm not really into guys with long hair!" she said quickly.

"Really?" asked Cloud hopefully, then he looked back down at the table, "So… what kind of guys do you like?"

"Hm…" said Aerith, "well I don't want to stereo type but… I think I like guys who have blonde spiky hair. Cloud looked up to see Aerith smiling widely from across the table, he smiled.

He took another bite of his ice cream and leaned as far over the table as he could go. Planting his lips firmly on Aerith's light pink ones.

Everyone in the ice cream shop turned to look at the couple and giggled. When Cloud pulled away he didn't have anymore ice cream in his mouth, but Aerith's was full to the brim with paopu.

And she had to admit, paopu had never tasted sweeter.

ChibiFrubaGirl: Well what do you think? I tried my best on the AerithxCloud moment… I hope it was to your liking Tweetiepie987… Please REVIEW!!!

bliss


	4. Lurking Behind Bushes

Chapter Four

"Kairi?"

"Oh! Sora, I didn't know you were awake!"

"Sorry…"

"It's okay…"

Kairi glanced down at Sora, who still had a death grip on her waist. Sora crying wasn't a pretty sight. When Sora cries he goes all out. And when he's done you can tell he's been crying. His eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, only making his electric blue eyes stand out even more. His hair was sticking up more than usual due to his smothering of Kairi. And to top it all of? Let's just say his nose would put even Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer to shame.

"Kairi?" he asked in a high-pitched, squeaky voice.

"What are we going to do with Riku?" asked Sora.

"I don't know Sora, I really don't…"

Despite the fact that Riku was one of Kairi's best friends she couldn't help but be a little irate with him. After all, he was so depressed even when there was no reason to be. He always acted so cold towards her and the others. And he never once went with them on any of their crazy little adventures.

Like when they had all planned to raid the teachers' lounge. Kairi smiled, now _that _had been one great day. And of course as always Riku had simply muttered, "You guys are insane." And left when they'd asked him to come along.

Nope, Riku never did anything fun with them anymore.

Well, Kairi reasoned, that wasn't completely true. After all he came along but it was only ever to keep them out of trouble or to remind them of how stupid they were being. This is of course no fun at all. Kairi's expression softened as her gaze returned to Sora.

"Hey Sora?" she asked as he tilted his head to look up at her.

"W- What?" he sniffled.

"Maybe…" her voice trailed off as her expression hardened, "I've got an idea Sora! I know what we can do!"

"What?" asked Sora a little taken aback by her enthusiasm.

"We should share a paopu! Just the three of us!" said Kairi.

"But… Kairi it's really supposed to be more of a…"

"No one ever said it has to be for romantic reasons," said Kairi, "Besides… Don't you want us to be together forever?"

Sora looked dumbstruck at these words.

"I… well uh… I mean… of course I… that is… um…"

"Silly Sora," said Kairi fondly ruffling his hair, "When will you ever learn?"

Sora looked a little confused at her words but all action in his brain was cut off when Kairi pulled him forward by the front of his shirt and kissed him. It wasn't a fiery/passion-filled/hott/or "just before having sex" type of kiss. It was just… warm. That was all. Just like Kairi. Warm, sweet gentle, kind, compassionate Kairi. And somewhere in his tiny little dusty mind… Sora realized that was all he wanted. And all he ever would want. Kairi.

So in the end… he knew no matter what; he would be happy. Because no matter what Kairi would always be waiting for him.

And that was just fine with him.

---------

"Oh to HELL with it all!" shouted Riku, crying out his frustrations at the world. Hey, it's cool you need some time to vent… I get it. It's fine and all that. We all need to rage every now and then, there's only one problem…

Never swear like that in public.

Riku was standing in the middle of the street letting out a stream of swearwords.

Destiny Island residents began backing away from the young teenager who was so loudly ranting about being possessed by a gay old man and being raped by a green dragon lady witch.

"I mean, c'mon! I always thought she and her fat husband Pete were totally happy with each other! It's a perfect fit! He's a lazy fat ass and she's a driven psycho bitch! Why couldn't she just be content with screwing him?! But nooooo! She had to do me as well! Well fuck to her! And shit to him for not being able to keep his own god damn WIFE happy! The fuck!" he cried throwing his arms up in the air. Panting heavily he stormed off down the streets and slowly the terrified pedestrians came out of their homes they'd been hiding in to watch him go with relief.

The next day citizens walking down that same street would be listening to stories from all the local residents about how those scorch marks got stamped into the pavement.

_Ah… Screw it all! _thought Riku bitterly_, Might as well go find Yuffie… Stupid ninja's probably half way across the goddamn island by now…_

-------

Yuffie sat at the beach idly fiddling with her shuriken and kunai knives, wondering if Riku would let her cut his hair with them.

"Hey."

"Ack!" Yuffie started and jumped up off the sandy floor. Riku had snuck up on her again… Grr…

"Um Yuffie?" his words were choppy and his voice was strangely hoarse. Yuffie wondered if he'd been yelling recently. She found this option very likely.

"Oh it's you," she sneered.

"Look…" he said quickly, trying to get the words out as fast as possible, "About earlier… I'm sorry."

…

"Huh?"

"I said sorry, okay?! I'm an idiot!" he exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air in agitation, "So… yeah… just thought I should say that… well… I guess I'll just be-

"Wait," said Yuffie sulkingly (word?), "I was being stupid too… I shouldn't have been so stubborn.

"No it's my fault," said Riku dully.

"No it's _mine_."

"_Mine._"

"Mine."

"Mine!

"MINE!"  
"No! Mine!"

So it was that Yuffie ended up on top of Riku pulling at his hair with her clenched fists and Riku repeatedly thumping her on the side of the head. And it just so happened that at that exact moment Leon, Cid, Tidus, Wakka and Selphie happened to be walking by.

They stopped and stared. Leon was the first to react; after all he had to put up with Yuffie more than the others.

He rushed forward leaping through the air with astounding grace and landing promptly on top of Yuffie. He grabbed her by the shoulders and pried her off Riku.

"It's MY fault!" cried the crazed ninja girl.

"No it's MINE!" roared Riku leaping to his feet and making to pounce on Yuffie, but luckily he was restrained by Tidus, Cid and Wakka.

"Screw you!" Yuffie shrieked.

"You wish!"

Both of them all at once stopped and slowly Leon and the others released their grips on the two.

"_You wish_?" Yuffie quoted, "Oh please, I could SO do better than you," she sneered gesturing at Riku.

"What was that?" asked Riku sarcastically, "You mean like Wakka here?" he gestured toward his orange haired "friend". Wakka looked appalled at the very idea. So did Yuffie as a matter of fact.

"WHAT?!" they both shrieked very loudly and high-pitched.

"Well what did you expect with a face like that?" he asked Wakka, "Or a chest like that?" he gestured at Yuffie's less than ideal figure. Both of their faces shifted colors for a while before finally settling on something that resembled blood.

"Okay…" said Leon, shattering the uncomfortable silence, "what exactly were you two fighting about anyways?" Yuffie and Riku looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Um… I can't remember," she said at last.

"Hm… Neither can I," said Riku looking very surprised by his own stupidity (he must have had higher expectations for himself).

"Well," said Yuffie chipperly (word?), "I guess it wasn't that important then."

"Yeah okay…" said Riku sounding a little unsure, "I suppose."

Leon rolled his eyes to the heavens, "Alright well why don't you two go off and make out somewhere then?"

"What?" asked everyone in unison except for Cid who said, "Screw this." And left. Tidus, Wakka and Selphie looked completely lost, Riku and Yuffie just looked a little miffed (I love that word).

"You know," said Tidus, "I really don't think we know about this." And with that he grabbed both of them by the arms and steered them away. Leon turned his attention back to the two.

"Go on," he urged, "don't worry I'll turn around when it gets to the part where you both rip each others' clothes off."

Yuffie's mouth hung open. Riku just gawked.

"Bye," said Leon, deciding it was best to leave them alone.

"That… that basta-

"Should we?"

"W- Wha?" Riku was flabbergasted (A/N: I love that word….)

"You know…?" Yuffie's face was red but she persisted on anyways, "I mean after all… you know…" she repeated.

"Um, well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt…" said Riku looking at the sky determinedly, "I mean, like you said… We are kind of… well…"

"Y- Yeah…" agreed Yuffie.

"So…?"

"So…"

At that point Yuffie's mind shut down as Riku grabbed her by the arm and pulled her into a nearby clump of bushes that was very concealing. The bushes rustled for a few minutes until a little girl and her mother walked by.

The little girl, who by the way had blonde hair tied back into a ponytail, walked up to the bushes nervously before reaching her arms out and pushing the branches aside to reveal…

The little girl stared.

Riku and Yuffie ignored her presence.

The little girl stared.

The mother walked over.

The mother screams.

The little girl just kept on staring (A/N: I don't even want to think about what effect this might have on her in the future… Let's just say she is going to lose her virginity at a very young age).

The mother dragged her daughter away muttering something that sounded suspiciously negative towards the couple in the bushes.

Yuffie and Riku continued to act as though there had been no disturbance.

Leon was walking back towards Sora's house with a rare smile planted on his face. It wasn't often he found himself this happy. But then again it wasn't often he got to embarrass his "younger sister" in front of her soon to be boyfriend too…

"Hi Leon. What are you so happy about?" asked Kairi as she and Sora walked out of Sora's house, Leon's smirk grew.

"Oh nothing… just make sure you don't go to the beach anytime soon."

"The beach? Why not?"

"Just don't."

Sora pouted and as he and Kairi walked away Leon could've sworn he'd heard Sora whisper, "Let's go to the beach, okay?"

Leon's smirk grew and he even began cackling slightly, sounding highly insane. As he continued to walk down the street he passed Aerith and Cloud.

"What do you suppose…?" asked Aerith eyeing the brunette man strangely.

"I don't even want to know," muttered Cloud, wrapping his arms around Aerith's waist and leading her away from his flipped out best friend.

"Gosh…" whispered Aerith, sending Leon one more nervous glance, "Everyone's been acting so weird since we got here… You don't think it's the island do you?"

Cloud tried not to roll his eyes.

"No Aerith it's not the island… God, you've been watching WAY too much LOST lately…"

"Have not," she whined.

"Whatever," he drawled, pulling her up into a kiss.

"What makes you think you can get away with that huh?" asked Aerith smugly.

"Huh?" came Cloud's blank response.

"That kiss," when Cloud continued to look lost she threw her arms up and said, "you didn't think you could kiss me for free did you?... Oh please Cloud… Are you really that clueless?"

"Huh? What? I-

"If you kiss me… I get to kiss you."

"Oh… _Oh…" _he smiled, "Hey, that arrangement works fine for me…"

"Good," she whispered before throwing her arms around his neck.

"I wonder what Leon was talking about… and where whatever it is is," wondered Sora as he and Kairi aimlessly wandered about the street.

"Dunno," Kairi shrugged before noticing some movement in a nearby huddle of bushes, "Sora look!"

The two proceeded cautiously.

Finally Sora threw the cover the bushes were providing away and…

…

…

"OH MY GOD!!! WHAT THE HELL?!"

"AIIIIISH! THAT IS SO CUTE!!!"

"SORA?! KAIRI?! WHAT THE HELL?! GO AWAY!"

"STALKERS!"


	5. Bug HarrassmentSilent Night Remix

Chapter Five

(Earlier that day)

"Aggh!!!"

"Ruki hold on!" I screamed. Reaching out my hand for her. But suddenly she wasn't there anymore.

"Ruki? Ruki!"

"C- Callie…"

"Ruki!" I scuttled over to her and pulled her away from the monstrous scene that was taking place above our heads. Two of the monsters were doing something I was sure was inappropriate, seeing as neither of them were wearing any of those things I think they call clothes. I looked back at Ruki. She was in bad shape. Half her legs had been squashed.

"C'mon Ruki," I whispered, grabbing her unwounded half and attempting to pull her away. Suddenly one of the monsters rolled over and started moving towards us ominously. I scrunched my eyes shut, waiting for it to squash us.

"AAAHH!!!"

Suddenly the movement stopped. Slowly we each lifted one eyebrow and stared skyward. The monsters had halted. They were staring at two other monsters that had appeared out of nowhere.

There was a lot of shouting that made the ground rumble. Finally the two that had nearly killed me and Ruki grabbed their clothes and got up and away, towering miles above our heads. One of the new monsters leaned down and stared at me and Ruki. I stared back. Ruki just whimpered.

"Jeez you two… Did you have to do it on a beach? It's gross… I actually think you squished some bugs over here…"

"Yeah, yeah whatever…" muttered the one with shiny hair the color of grey rocks. I looked back at my savior gratefully. Framed in the sunlight… He looked like a God. If only I knew his name.

Oh well… He is of the sky so… I think I'll dub him SORA! (A/N: Sora means "sky" in Japanese… Riku means "land and Kairi means "sea"… Kinda cool huh?)

Sigh… My beautiful wonderful Sora…

Normal POV

Riku and Yuffie dragged behind Sora and Kairi reluctantly; they looked like a couple of five year olds who'd been caught misbehaving… Which they had been misbehaving… Oh yes, the two of them had been very very naughty today… Losing points with Santa…

Sora was still lecturing them on the "unsanitary-ness" (quoting him) of their actions… And throughout all that blather Riku wondered faintly how he knew so much about this stuff.

But he didn't say anything. He was in trouble enough with his younger friend.

"And above all that you two did it COMPLETELY behind our backs which just undermines the foundations of trust amongst friendship!!!" Sora stopped and turned abruptly to face the two teens whose hormones were still raging after everything that had happened in the bushes… God that sentence sounded so wrong on so many levels…

"Hey Sora?" asked Riku quite suddenly and out-of-the-blue, "Since when did you start using such big words?"

Kairi and Yuffie burst out laughing and Sora turned red in the face.

"So what? I- I can use big words if I wanna!" Sora shot back pouting with his hands on his hips.

"There," said Riku cheerfully, "that's more like the Sora we know."

Kairi and Yuffie doubled over laughing at the look on Sora's face, Riku just smirked.

"So what have you two been doing?" asked Riku smugly. Suddenly Kairi stopped laughing and Sora blushed furiously.

"Oh," said Yuffie keenly, "it seems you've hit a soft spot Riku…"

"Mm-hm," said Riku eagerly, "this requires further investigation… So… Sora you wanna tell me what's up?"

Sora looked at the ground and muttered random obscenities under his breath.

"We were looking for you guys," said Kairi quickly, "Leon came and told us something was up so we were worried."

"Uh-huh…" said Riku sarcastically, "Are you sure that was ALL you two were doing together…? Hm?"

"YES!" They shouted.

"Alright, alright," muttered Riku, "have it your way."

As they made their way slowly towards Sora's place Yuffie got one of her sudden and random urges. Taking a running start she backed up before speeding forward…

And then quite suddenly she leaped onto Riku's back. Riku let out an "oof" and stumbled a little before changing his position to adjust to the newly added weight.

"Um…" he looked up at her, "What exactly do you think you're doing…?"

"Piggyback!" Yuffie exclaimed.

Riku groaned and rolled his eyes before taking off at a run towards Sora's.

Kairi turned to smile at Sora winningly, Sora returned with a wary glance.

"Don't," he stated. Kairi's expression faltered.

"YAY! Riku go faster!" At Yuffie's holler the two looked up to see Yuffie and Riku nearing the house, glancing quickly at each other they put on a burst of speed and rushed forward. Trying desperately to catch up.

When they finally reached Sora's house Aerith, Leon, Cloud and Cid were all sitting around the living room. As soon as the four entered the rest of the group looked up swiftly.

"Where were you four?" asked Cid grouchily as usual.

"Um… around…" said Sora distractedly, "just around…"

Leo let out a smirk that looked highly misplaced on his usually poker-straight face, "I told you not to go to the beach."

Sora and Kairi's faces reddened and they shuffled their feet idly.

"Hm? What? What are you talking about?" asked Aerith from her seat next to Cloud on the couch. Kairi, Sora, Riku and Yuffie blinked at the two and wondered vaguely if they had missed something; Cloud had his arm slung around Aerith's slim shoulders.

"Uh… well…" said Kairi still looking at the two curiously, "Sora… and I… were looking for Riku and Yuffie."

"Yup!" said Sora chipperly.

"Mm-hm…" said Leon, he didn't sound very convinced.

"I'm going to pretend I don't know what you're talking about," said Riku, walking into the kitchen and overall ignoring the evil look on Leon's face.

"They say the first symptoms are eating more and getting strange cravings for certain foods," said Leon as if he were commenting on the weather. Riku froze in the middle of opening a peanut butter jar.

Slowly he raised his head and looked straight ahead before sliding the jar back into its place on the counter. Head raised, looking straight forward he walked back into the living room and stood next to Yuffie. He didn't acknowledge Leon's comment with a response.

"I'm not even going to ask what you guys are talking about," said Cloud.

"I think our young Yuffie knocked Riku up pretty good," muttered Cid gruffly, "if I'm understanding right…" Leon's devilish grin only widened, and Riku began muttering mutinously under his breath.

Aerith's eyes widened and Cloud's grip on her became more protective than romantic.

"So… is that why Sora and Kairi weren't supposed to go to the beach today…?" asked Aerith suspiciously, eyes darting in between Yuffie and Riku.

Riku took a deep breath and said, "Yeah… pretty much… you know… yeah…" Yuffie followed his statement with a series of dignified coughs.

"And Sora and Kairi walked in on…" Cloud murmured, glancing at Sora and Kairi with large blue eyes. He shuddered at the thought of the mental scarring those two must have suffered today.

"Yup, on the beach…" Sora clarified.

"Ouch," said Cid.

"Yup."

"You poor kids."

"Mm-hm."

"I mean jeez… That must have been pretty horrifying," said Cloud.

"Hey!" exclaimed Yuffie.

"Excuse me while I go crawl under a rock and die," said Riku quietly.

"Oh right sorry you two," said Aerith, not at all sounding sorry.

One of those fairly awkward silences set in. You know, one of the ones that deserve a great "ice breaker" to shatter the awkwardness. Usually it's something pretty much random or embarrassing so that people start laughing and opening up.

Cloud was staring at Aerith's hair, Aerith was fiddling with her purse strap, Yuffie was examining one of her kunai knives thoughtfully, Riku was picking at a nail, Cid was chewing on a toothpick, Sora was watching a piece of lint floating through the air, Leon was back to his usual brooding self and Kairi was thinking about shoes and shoe-fly pie.

**"SIIIIIIIILEENNT NIIGHTT! HOOOOOOLD ME TIIIGHT!"**

Everyone jumped a foot and turned to stare at Yuffie. Said ninja was currently yowling out the lyrics of "Silent Night" at a volume that exceeded even Leon's yelling when ever someone stole his stuffed pink hippo.

"Yuffie shut UP!" screamed Riku, hands over his ears to prevent any permanent damage. (A/N: This is something my friend did to me once… We weren't talking so she started singing "Silent Night"… Now it's like a little inside joke for us… Whenever we're having a boring conversation she starts singing it… Which is sad cause she only knows the first line… It's a miracle I survive phone calls with her…)

"Riku make her be quiet!"

And so Riku did the only sensible thing he could think of to shut Yuffie up. He kissed her. Yuffie let out a startled "mmph" before shutting her eyes and wrapping her arms around Riku's neck.

Everyone else in the room looked away pointedly and tried valiantly to begin a conversation a few times. It didn't work out. Yuffie and Riku were being a little too active for that.

"Okay you two," said Leon, "cut it out for a second okay? Good."

Riku and Yuffie straightened up and looked at Leon, they seemed a little grumpy at the thought of being interrupted from whatever it was they had been about to do.

"What?" asked Riku innocently (A/N: And yes I was surprised too when I realized Riku actually HAD an innocent voice).

"Don't make out like that in front of the rest of us from now on okay?" Leon instructed, "After all it's awkward enough for me but I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like for the more innocent couples in the room.

"What other couples?" asked Riku and Yuffie, Sora and Kairi and Aerith and Cloud all at once. Leon smirked that ever creepy smirk of his; it appeared he'd been keeping close tabs on the rest of the gang.

"Well," he said trying to sound bored by all this, "earlier today Aerith and Cloud went to the _Island Affair _ice cream store and were spotted kissing by several eye witnesses… During that whole event Sora and Kairi were witnessed by yours truly making out in Sora's bedroom. As for Riku and Yuffie… I believe that requires no further speculation… as to what they were doing…"

"Well," said Riku clearing his throat, "You've certainly done all of your detective work today…"

Leon folded his arms and looked around at all of them imposingly.

"So you two…?" Yuffie looked at Cloud and Aerith. Aerith's face burned cherry red and Cloud shifted uncomfortably.

"That's great!" exclaimed the crazy ninja girl, "Now we can all be couples together!" There was a long silence following her statement.

"Wha?" asked Sora blankly.

"Aw, c'mon! It'll be super fun! We can all go to the park and make out and stuff… And Leon and Cid can go gay for each other so they can join us!"

Cid fell backwards in shock and Leon made a distinct gagging noise.

"What? You don't want to?" asked the crest-fallen ninja, staring around at all of them rather sadly, "Well I thought it was a good idea…" she moped.

"If they don't want to go I'll go with you," offered Riku, Yuffie brightened and threw herself on him.

"Suck up," muttered Cloud as all the other currently paired up boys watched the couples little "special moment" with thoughts of revenge spinning through their minds.

The next day Yuffie was strolling down the beach, moving in that combination of bouncy-ness and skippy-ness only she could achieve. She was thinking over everything that had happened lately.

Ever since their arrival on the island things had really started changing. She had a boyfriend now, for starters. Sora and Kairi had FINALLY made some moves. And of course Cloud and Aerith were starting to get it on as well. And on top of all that, Leon was growing a sense of humor. And strange, creepy twisted sense of humor…

And as for Cid… Well… Cid was Cid. Grumpy old Cid.

Yuffie often found it strange that none of the other new couples weren't quite as…energetic… as she and Riku. After all they'd been hinting and flirting and teasing each other for years and yet when they finally got together they were still so awkward with each other…

_Losers, _thought Yuffie. Now she and Riku were and perfect match and they knew it. So why waste time acting all embarrassed? You only live once and in Yuffie's opinion once you find the right person BAM! Off with their clothes!

If someone else would hear these thoughts of hers they would think that it would explain quite a few of the noises coming from either Riku or Yuffie's room each night…

**Author's Note: **Oh wow peoples I'm so sorry it took so long… I've dug my own grave in stories lately you see… They just keep piling up it seems… I feel so busy…

I hope you enjoyed this next installment! You have CraziiJaney to thank for its getting updated. She's my friend from school and she threatened me with my life… She also is the friend mentioned up above singing Silent Night…

Yeah… Please reviews peeps! Okay wait… Did I really just say peeps?

Dear lord…

bliss


	6. THE Great Ninja Yuffie!

Chapter Six

The next two days were blissful and dreamlike.

Well, c'mon what do you expect? You get three picture-perfect couples on a tropical island it's bound to be picturesque.

Everything was going smoothly, and for a while it seemed everyone had completely forgotten about the fact that pretty soon Leon and the others would have to return to Radiant Garden.

Yuffie was sitting in the living room of Sora's house, idly flipping pages in one of his mother's magazines. When Riku came bounding down the stairs looking ecstatic about something.

'Hey Riku wh-

_Slam!_ Riku rushed out the front door.

-Okay…?" _He didn't even give me a chance to finish, _she mused inwardly, _Oh well… Looks like he's happy about something… Maybe he'll tell me later…_

"Hey Yuffie have you seen Riku anywhere?" asked Kairi as she stepped in through the front door.

"He just ran out," replied Yuffie, "he seemed pretty excited."

"Really?" asked Kairi, "That's good… You know he really has improved a lot now that he's got you around."

"And what about you?" asked Yuffie talkatively, "how's it going with Sora? Have you managed to fix him up?"

"He's still a complete and total dork not too mention a terrible klutz," said Kairi in a bored voice. The two girls snorted and giggled at that, "But I like him better that way… It's sweet y'know?" she looked at Yuffie thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I guess," said Yuffie, "still… I think I prefer having the competent boyfriend…"

"Competent meaning totally anti-social and depressing?" quipped Kairi.

"He's not that depressing really," said Yuffie, "he's just serious and mature." She put on a ridiculous frowny face that caused Kairi and herself to roll over laughing on the couch.

"Why are we laughing?" asked Yuffie between laughing.

"Your face!" blurted Kairi, "You're right! He totally looks like that!"

"Heh heh…" Yuffie whipped tears from her eyes as her breathing returned to normal, "Boys," she muttered.

"I know," agreed Kairi, "they're hopeless without us."

"Completely," said Yuffie and the two girls high-fived.

"What are ya talking about?" asked Sora chirpily as he too entered his living room. Honestly these days, it seemed anyone could get into Sora's house. Because of the large amount of guests staying there they'd decided to just leave the door unlocked at all times. Besides there were so many people coming and going it would be impossible for someone to rob the home.

"Nothing," the two girls in unison putting on their angelic faces.

"Okay," said Sora slowly, it seemed the 'angelic faces' creeped him out more than anything.

As soon as he left the room the two girls burst into a fit of giggles.

-

Riku was strolling down the street whistling a merry tune and- Wait… Riku… whistling..? Dear lord…

"Um… Riku?" asked Selphie as she and Tidus and Wakka eyed their older friend worriedly. Riku just waved cheerfully and winked at the three.

"Wh- Wha?" asked Tidus, and simultaneously Selphie and Wakkas' eyes rolled into the back of their heads and the two collapsed.

"Guys? Guys?!" Tidus bent down and tapped his friends on their fore heads tentatively, then he watched Riku practically skipping away, "Well… I guess they fainted from shock…"

-

"Hello Riku dear," said Mrs. Geekus, "you seem to be in quite the chipper mood today…" Riku stopped his whistling for a moment.

"Yup," he said blissfully.

"May I ask why?" asked the old woman.

"Well…" Riku looked down the street both ways as if checking for a certain crazy ninja chick, "I guess I could show you…"

He walked over to the lady and opened the bag a crack.

"Oh my! That is quite a gift!" exclaimed Mrs. Geekus, "Well I do hope she likes it…"

"Oh she will," said Riku mischievously, "trust me on this one… She will."

"Okay then," said the woman, "good luck!"

"Thanks!" he called back.

_This is going to be perfect! _He thought wildly.

-

Yuffie departed from Sora's house that day feeling pretty good about herself. Ever since their arrival Yuffie hadn't gotten along with the other girls so well… They were too girly for her. But these days they managed to hang out together pretty well.

"Selphie!" called Yuffie, waving down the brunette girl.

"Oh hey Yuffie," said Selphie, she sounded a little shaky.

"You okay?" asked Yuffie, concern over-taking her voice.

"Oh? Yeah… I'm fine…" said Selphie wearily, "just a little… I don't know… I just saw the strangest thing…"

"Hm? What?"

"Riku," Selphie took a deep breath, "was practically skipping and he actually was whistling!"

"Oh yeah," said Yuffie, tapping her lip thoughtfully, "I saw him earlier… He looked pretty cheerful…"

"Wonder what," mused Selphie, "Oh! By the way, how are things going between you two?"

"Great!" said Yuffie with an enthused nod, "Everything's fine… Y'know he can be really sweet sometimes…"

"Oh? So the whole 'bad-boy' thing is just an act? No doubt implicated in order to trick us all into believing he's tough?" asked Selphie, giving a small laugh at the end.

"Well I don't know about that…" said Yuffie, "but I have reason to believe he's an inner hopeless romantic."

"Really?" asked Selphie with wide eyes, "That's interesting… Maybe I'll investigate…"

Yuffie rolled her eyes, "Well, whatever you do, try not to crash any of our dates."

"Uh-huh," said Selphie distractedly, "Sure, right, whatever…"

_Oh well, _thought Yuffie eyeing her hopeless friend.

"By the way," said Selphie, "I was thinking of trying out an experiment."

"What kind?" asked Yuffie.

"Oh well, I was thinking about testing out the 'at 12:00' theory by introducing myself to a hott guy at exactly twelve. Any ideas? You hiding some hott friend I could introduce myself too?"

Yuffie briefly thought about Selphie bouncing circles around Leon and Vincent and tried her best not to laugh.

"None that would work out relationship wise," she said casually, "but you know Riku and I met at twelve o'clock."

"WHAT?!" shrieked Selphie, agog at this new piece of info, "Really?" Yuffie nodded, "Well… That explains a lot…"

"Like what?" asked Yuffie, not at all liking where this conversation was going.

"Like how you two manage to get along with each other."

"What do you mean by that?" snapped Yuffie.

"Well…" said Selphie getting a little defensive, "I'm just saying, you two don't exactly have compatible personalities. So it makes sense that twelve o'clock must have somehow made the arrangements for you two to fall in l-

"Stop it!" cried Yuffie, "How can you say that? I like Riku because… because…"

Yuffie stopped and thought about it for a moment… Her relationship with Riku was quite similar to the imaginary ones she'd just seen Selphie in with Leon or Vincent… And hadn't Yuffie thought of those pairings as totally ridiculous?

"…"

"Yuffie?"

Yuffie shook her head a little trying to clear her thoughts, why did she like Riku? Sure he was good looking but… He could be such a party pooper at times… And how exactly did Riku suddenly start putting up with Yuffie?

"Yuffie?"

And at the beginning … When she'd first met Riku… Hadn't she described it as being "pulled towards him" as if by some higher force?

"Yuffie? Are you okay?"

At first she'd been concerned with Riku's younger age than hers… And his depressing attitude… Not too mention how stubborn he was… Trying now to figure out when she'd grown accustomed to those things Yuffie found she couldn't explain it at all. Meaning that the only realistic explanation was…

"YUFFIE!"

"Huh?" asked Yuffie, snapping out of her reverie.

"What's up with you? Are you feeling alright?"

"Y- Ugh…" Yuffie made incoherent babbling noises before finally…

"WAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

And she took off running back towards Sora's house.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

"Yuffie?! Are you okay?!" shouted Riku as she flew through the front door.

Yuffie whimpered before continueing her wailing, speeding up the stairs and locking her door behind her with a bang.

"Yuffie?" asked Riku quietly.

"What's up with her?" asked Sora, everyone at Sora's house was staring at Riku who was staring at the stairs Yuffie had just disappeared up.

"I don't know…" murmured Riku.

"Well sit down and give her some time before you go charging after him," said Aerith sweetly, she was helping Sora's mom make dinner for the large crowd.

"Okay…" whispered Riku plopping down next to Sora and the others on the couch.

-

Yuffie looked around her guest room morosely, slowly she trudge over to the nightstand and picked up a photo frame. Inside was a photo of her father, Godo, carrying her on his shoulders and spinning around in their home at Wutai.

Yuffie could still remember that day clear as crystal…

-

_"WHEEE!" cried a five-year old Yuffie giddily as her father spun her in circles._

_"Had enough?" asked Godo. _

_"Nope!" she chirped before leaping off his shoulders and proceeding to climb up a nearby tree like a little monkey._

_"Alright Yuffie," said her father patiently, "Mind coming down now?"_

_"Never!" she bellowed defiantly. _

_"Are you sure?"_

_"Yes! Hee…"_

_"Okay then… I guess I'll just have to come up there and get you down myself…" he growled and began placing his feet on the large trunk._

_"Eek! No! I wanna stay! I wanna stay! You- Ack!" Yuffie burst out laughing as her father drew level with her and began to 'tickle-attack' her to death._

_"Ha ha!" laughed her father triumphantly, "Got you now huh? No one can defeat the… Tickle Monster of Doom!"_

_Yuffie laughed so hard she was practically screaming, arms and legs flying everywhere in an attempt to escape the wrath of the Tickle Monster._

_"No!" she shrilled._

_Ten minutes later Godo was walking into his house with a small raven-haired girl slung over his shoulder. _

_"Hey!" hollered Yuffie, "Hey, put me down! I mean it daddy! I want to go back outside!" _

_"Too bad," said her father casually, "it's lunchtime."_

_"Hmph!" Yuffie harrumphed as she was ungraciously dumped into a chair at the kitchen table. _

_"Now eat," said her father after a few minutes of preparation, he slid a sandwich in front of her._

_"Bleah," she muttered before reluctantly proceeding to eat her sandwich._

_"Yuffie," Godo began wearily as he sat himself down across his daughter with a sandwich of his own, "why can't you ever do what you're told?"_

_"Because," said Yuffie simply._

_"Because why?" asked her father with raised eyebrows._

_"Because…" Yuffie thought, trying to find a good excuse, "Because…" Finally the answer came to her and her eyes lit up, "Because I'm a Great Ninja! No! Wait! THE Great Ninja Yuffie! A- And no one can tell ME what to do!"_

_"Is that so?" asked Godo sarcastically._

_"Yup," said Yuffie, jutting out her chin boldly, "that's right."_

_"Well…" Godo sighed and ran a hand through his hair, Yuffie prepared herself to get yelled at, "I guess I can't stop you if that's what you want…"_

_"Huh?" she blinked._

_"If you're gonna be some 'great ninja' than there's no stopping you… I guess no one will ever be able to get you to do anything huh?"_

_"Uh… Right!"_

_"Tough luck for the boys huh?"_

_"Ew… Boys? Yuck! Daddy!" she yelled angrily, "Boys have cooties!"_

_"Sorry, sorry," said her father as he chuckled lightly to himself, "So… Does this mean you're never gonna stop for anyone not even the love of your life?"_

_"Daddy, boys are gross, I'm not gonna fall in love and besides… If I keep my hair short like this they won't even be able to tell I'm a girl!"_

_"Well… that is an idea," said Godo thoughtfully, "but you know there are other ways to tell if someone's a girl or not…"_

_Yuffie cocked her head curiously, "Like what?"_

_"…Nevermind…"_

_"Okay…"_

-

Even if it had started out as some lame five year old excuse… Ever since Yuffie had in fact become a 'great ninja'. "THE Great Ninja Yuffie!"… Or so she always introduced herself…

And when she'd said she wasn't going to fall for some guy she really had meant it, in fact she'd held true to that statement all her life up until now…

"Yuffie?" came a soft voice followed by polite knocking on the door.

"Come in Riku," called Yuffie, making up her mind as the words left her mind. She knew what she had to do now…

"Hey," said Riku as he stepped in holding a bag that was obviously for Yuffie.

…

"H- Hi…" she said nervously, "What's up?"

"I was going to ask you that," he replied, "something you want to tell me?"

"Actually, there is… Um, maybe you should sit down or something," Yuffie stuttered nervously.

Riku's eyes widened in comprehension, "Oh God, no way…"

"What?" asked Yuffie startled, _Am I that obvious?_

"Are… Are you…?"

Yuffie nodded, "Mm-hm…"

Riku sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "So… Are you okay with it or what?"

"Huh? Wait, what do you think I'm talking about?"

"Well…" Riku's face reddened a little, "I- You-… You're trying to tell me you're pregnant right?"

"NO! YOU IDIOT!" Yuffie shrieked throwing a pillow at his head.

"Okay, okay! Sheesh! I just thought- Never mind…" he sat down next to Yuffie and rested his chin in his hands, "So what do you want to tell me then?"

"Um well," said Yuffie, this was not gong as planned, "I- I think… I think… Um… I don't know how to say this but um… Well, I- I don't want to go out with you anymore!" she blurted, clenching her eyes shut, not wanting to see the look on Riku's face.

"Wh- What?"

Slowly Yuffie opened one eye, then the other, "I- I said I don't want to be in a relationship with you a- anymore…" she mumbled.

"Oh…" said Riku allowing this information to sink in, "That's what I thought you said…" He looked at the floor, appearing lost…

"Well," he began suddenly, "this is awkward…"

Yuffie laughed a little. Riku's head snapped up at the noise. His face remaining determinedly blank and emotionless.

"So," he said, "I guess I should leave then right?"

"Yes," whispered Yuffie hoarsely.

"Okay then," he muttered still not giving away any feeling, "Oh by the way… This is for you… I- I still want you to have it… So um… Yeah just take it and well… I guess I'll see you around or …something…"

Slowly Riku trudged out of the room and Yuffie didn't let out the breath she'd been holding until she heard the clicking of the front door, meaning Riku must have gone home for the night.

Slowly and carefully Yuffie started opening the parcel in the bag, it was carefully wrapped and she wondered if Riku went through the trouble of wrapping it himself or paid someone. Thinking back on the look of excitement she'd seen on his face earlier she had a hunch he'd done it himself…

"Oh Riku…" she whimpered as she saw what it was…

Inside underneath all the wrapping was a complete set of shuriken and kunai knives, each one lovingly polished and brand new. Usually these kinds of presents wouldn't surprise Yuffie very much, after all… People tended to get her ninja weapons…

But these were special, it was obvious Riku had gotten these specially ordered for her… _It must have been expensive, _she thought.

The blades were made of high-quality metal and there were intricate designs on each one… There were two with paopu designs on them… Two with silver designs embedded in them … Two with raven and violet patterns, the shade of each color matching Yuffie's violet eyes and raven hair perfectly… And somehow she knew the weapons were supposed to represent their relationship.

"Crap," she cursed, placing the bag on the bed and pushing them away, finally giving way to the tears that had been threatening to spill out for a while now.

**Author's Note: **I'm SO sorry it took so long peoples! I've been so busy with other fics lately… But I swear the next chapter will be out very very soon! I promise this time! And I really mean it! Also I'm terribly this chapter was more dramatic than funny but… The series is reaching its finally so it's bound to get more serious… The next chapter will be the last… It's been fun…

I want to thank all the reviewers because you guys are the reason I wrote this and you make writing so much more fun! You guys all ROCK HARD!!!

Please stay tuned for the next and final chapter! And don't forget to review!  
bliss


	7. The End

Final Chapter

"Something wrong Riku? Riku?"

"Hey man, did something happen…?"

"What? What did Yuffie say?"

"Was it bad?"

"Oh Riku, here c'mon, you can tell us about it…"

Riku ignored the words of comfort and continued to make his way out of Sora's house slowly and with all the verge of a wounded slug.

Sora trotted after his best friend and grabbed him by the arm gently, "Hey," he said softly, "don't do this… C'mon you can tell us… Please, you said you were going to try and get better remember? You said you weren't going to push us away and wallow in your own misery anymore…"

"Sorry Sora," muttered Riku gruffly tugging his arm free from Sora's grasp and proceeding to head out the front door.

"Should one of us go talk to Yuffie?" asked Kairi tentatively.

"No," said Aerith, "give them both some time."

"I'll see Riku tomorrow," said Sora.

"And I'll talk to Yuffie," sighed Leon, "she's probably just as upset as he is."

Sora sighed and ran a hand through his hair exasperatedly.

"What's the matter Sora?" asked Kairi, concernedly.

"It's just," said Sora wearily, "it's always something isn't it? I mean, none of us ever get a break do we? Even when we're not fighting Heartless and Nobodies we've still got problems…"

"Just an average day in the life of the Keyblade Master huh?" asked Leon sarcastically.

"Well," said Sora, trying to sound important as he puffed his chest out, "I try my best."

"You ham," muttered Kairi affectionately.

"Hey!"

-

Riku got home late that night. It was exactly 10:34 when he got home. His parents, upon seeing the morbid look on his face, decided not to ask questions and merely settled for instead questioning if he wanted any dinner.

"No, I'm not hungry," said Riku dully, silently thanking God in his mind for giving him cool parents that knew when to not be nosy.

"Shit," he cursed quietly when he reached his room. Wordlessly he fell forward on his bed and lay there for a while in numb silence.

"Just fucking great," he mumbled into his pillow.

Sighing he got up and scanned his room, "Why does life suck?" he asked to no one in particular.

"I guess it really is like Zexion said that one time at Castle Oblivion," he mused, "_'Life's a bitch and then you die'._ Good advice."

Slowly he reached into his pocket and pulled out the receipt for the weapons set he'd given Yuffie. When he saw the very large price sum he swore again before he dumped the piece of paper into the trash bin.

"There goes that," he said, voice sounding oddly detached.

He stared hollowly at the wall in front of him for a while before plopping back onto his bed without a sound.

-

Back in Yuffie's bedroom at Sora's, a certain complete set of specially ordered shuriken and kunai knives sat abandoned in the corner. A raven-haired woman was lying morosely on the bed, gripping her pillow furiously.

Even though she's seventeen years old at that exact moment Yuffie looked more like a little child than anything else. With her blood-red swollen eyes and her grubby scrunched up nose…

"Why?" she moaned into her arms, "Why did it have to turn out this way? Why did Selphie have to…? Ugh!" she wailed and reburied her head; her little mop of black hair rumpled and mussed up.

"I would have been happier," she mumbled incoherently.

-

"Yuffie?" Leon called softly, he sounded unusually gentle for once.

"Hey," he whispered as he entered her room cautiously, he knew what Yuffie was capable of when she was emotionally distraught. He'd known what she was capable ever since the day known as: "The Day the Carpeting went 'S-Zap at Leon's House". Long title, he knew, but it was the only label he could think of.

"What do you want?" she asked miserably from her fetal position on the bed.

"Just checking to see how you're doing," he murmured sitting down and petting her hair comfortingly, "So…" he said after a while, "How are you doing?"

"What do you think?" Leon couldn't help but smile at her reaction.

"Well…" he said in mock thought, "I think you're pretty miserable. Am I right?"

"…" Yuffie glared at him, and then she sighed and sat up next to him, sighing irritably, "You know the situations bad when I'm the sulking one and you're the one cracking lame jokes."

"If it's any comfort, I think you're way better at telling lame jokes," offered Leon weakly.

"Yeah," muttered Yuffie, "you kind of suck at it."

"Whatever," scoffed Leon, "So… You want to talk about it?"

"Whatever," scoffed Yuffie in imitation of Leon.

"C'mon," encouraged Leon, "I'm no good at this kind of stuff… Just try and work with me here."

"Fine," sighed Yuffie, too tired to put up any resistance.

"Want to tell me what happened?" Leon prompted.

"Okay…"

-

"Hey everyone," greeted Sora sleepily as he toddled down the stairs, rubbing his sleep-crusted eyes tiredly, "What's going on?"

"Leon's off trying to talk to Yuffie," said Aerith nonchalantly as she continued to eat her breakfast, Cloud, Cid and Sora's parents didn't even look up from their meals.

"He what?" asked Sora, sleep-fogged brain a little slow on the uptake.

"He's talking to her as we speak," said Cloud as he dabbed his mouth with a napkin, "I think that's your cue to go confront Riku."

"Oh, okay!" said Sora, running back into his room to get dressed. He was a man on a mission.

"I'll get something to eat at Riku's mom!" he hollered as he bolted out the door.

"Oh okay-

_SLAM!_

-have fun!" his mother called after him, "teenagers these days… If they're not saving the world they're comforting their suicidal friends who have just been through a horrible break-up…"

"Times change," her husband commented dryly.

"Yes, I guess so," she agreed.

-

"Hello Mrs. Ishida," Sora greeted Riku's mother politely as he steeping into their living room.

"Oh hello Sora dear," Sora looked up at the red-head woman as she welcomed him kindly, "I'm assuming you're here to see Riku…?"

"Yup," chirped Sora, "has he come out of his room yet?"

"No, I'm afraid not," she said worriedly, "Do you know what happened?"

"Sort of," said Sora uneasily, "I think he and Yuffie had a fight or something and they probably broke up."

"Oh I see," she sighed, "teenagers these days…"

"Can I go see him now?" asked Sora.

"Oh! Yes of course dear."

"Sora walked passed Riku's family of red-heads and proceeded up the stairs leading up to Riku's room.

"Riku?" he called hesitantly, "It's me Sora."

"I know that nimrod," muttered Riku darkly, "You think I can't recognize your voice? We've known each other since we were in freaking diapers!"

"Sorry," mumbled Sora, "So…" his eyes swept the room taking in the mass of junk littered all over the floor and the fact that Riku was still wearing his clothes from yesterday, "I was going to ask how you were doing but I think the answer's kinda obvious."

"Good for you."

Sora frowned, "You don't have to be all snarky… I'm just here to make you feel better."

Riku mumbled into his pillow incoherently, and though Sora couldn't actually hear him, he had a pretty good feeling what the older on had said.

"Well now that you've gotten that out of your system," began Sora, "Let's talk."

"Let's not."

"Oh c'mon Riku!" whined Sora pouting his infamous pout, "I'm your best friend! You can tell me what's on your mind!"

"…"

"Riku?"

"…What?"

"C'mon man, please just try to talk to me for a little…"

"Fine."

"Good," said Sora, "now tell me what happened."

"Yuffie…. Broke… up… with… me."

"There now was that so hard?" asked Sora soothingly, Riku didn't respond, "now… why did she break up with you?"

"I don't know, she didn't say, I left pretty quickly," the words were coming out easier now and pretty soon Riku felt the lump in his throat shrinking.

"Well, c'mon," said Sora shaking Riku's by the shoulder a little, "you can't mope around all day! Come with me to the beach!"

"Why?"

"Because," said Sora exasperatedly, "it's the Radiant Garden gang's last day here! We're all going to the beach together to have fun!"

"Is Yuffie going to be there?"

"Well, yeah…" said Sora, dreading what Riku was going to say next.

"Then I'm not going," said Riku stubbornly.

"But Riiikuuuu," Sora pouted, "you have to come!"

"I don't wanna."

"Please Riku, just this once?"

"No."

"Fine then," huffed Sora, and he began to tug Riku by the leg.

Riku lifted his head up and stared at Sora bleakly, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm dragging you out of your little shell," insisted Sora, "and I don't care if I have to get you dressed and showered myself! You are going to come with the rest of us and you are going to have fun, damn it!"

"Sora what did I tell you about swearing?" asked Riku sitting up and smirking.

"Um…"

Riku rolled his eyes, "Don't swear, you suck at it."

"Oh… _Oh_… HEY! I can swear if I want to!"

"Whatever."

"So," said Sora slowly as he watched his best friend shuffle around his room gathering clothing, "does this mean you're coming with us?"

"Nope," said Riku casually, "it means I'm going to hang out with Tidus, Wakka and Selphie today… But thanks for trying anyway."

Sora smiled, "Well… as long as you're up and about."

"See ya!" called Riku as Sora practically skipped out of his bedroom.

"Bye!" sang Sora.

"Sora, Sora, Sora…" murmured Riku to himself, "What am I going to do with you?"

-

"Hey Sora!" yelled Kairi happily as Sora bounded down the street towards his waiting friends; who were all gathered at the beach.

"Hi guys," said Sora, jogging to a halt; panting ever so slightly.

"Is Riku coming?" asked Aerith, looking over Sora's shoulder as if she expected the silver-haired teen to show up from behind him.

"No," said Sora, casting Yuffie a significant, said ninja looked away pointedly, "he's hanging out with some other friends of his though… So at least he's not in his room sulking."

"Or committing suicide on a cliff," added Kairi, she and Sora laughed at that one.

"What?" asked Leon looking between the two of them.

"I'm not sure…" wondered Sora, questioning why he had just laughed (1).

"Well c'mon," said Aerith holding up a picnic basket that was stuffed to the brim with food, "your mom and I packed us all a great lunch!"

"Excellent," hissed Sora creepily, "food."

"Not until after we play a few rounds of blitzball," said Aerith, smacking Sora's hand away snippily.

"Aw," moaned Sora, eyeing the basket longingly.

"Just get over it," scoffed Yuffie, Sora cocked an eyebrow at Leon.

"I tried," said the gray-eyed brunette.

"Whatever," said the great ninja girl.

"Alright," said Cloud clapping his hands together, "who's up for some blitzball? Kairi told us how to play."

"Right," nodded Sora.

"I'm in," chimed Kairi.

"I guess," muttered Yuffie.

"Well then game ON!" cried Cloud as he threw the ball into the air. Everyone watched it fall in slow motion.

Let the games begin.

-

"Isn't this place cool?" asked Selphie.

"Yeah," said Riku taking in his surroundings.

"Wakka and I found it when we were chasing after Kairi's gerbil that week we were _supposed _to be looking after it and _somehow _(cough) lost him," said Tidus.

The four teenagers had stopped outside a quaint little café that, although highly subtle, had a definite air of 'coolness' about it.

"They make great slushies," added Selphie, "c'mon!"

_It wasn't that bad_, thought Riku inwardly, _getting dumped… People always say it's like getting your heart ripped out but… It's not that bad. After all, she's just one girl. There'll be others._

"Something wrong mon?" asked Wakka worriedly, "You seem distracted."

Tidus and Selphie turned to look at Riku but he smiled easily back at all of them.

"It's nothing," he reassured them all, "I've just realized life's not as bad as I thought it was."

Their faces broke into grins.

"Got that right," said Tidus in his easy-going carefree way.

"Good for you Riku," said Selphie, sounding truly happy for her friend.

"Who wants slushies?" asked Wakka looking around at all of them, "My treat."

His statement was followed by much cheering.

-

"I wonder what Riku's doing right now," said Kairi as their group sat around Aerith and her basket of food. Yuffie snorted.

"I hope Tidus and the others are being nice," said Sora.

"Don't worry," said Kairi peacefully, resting her head on Sora's shoulder, "I'm sure they are."

Yuffie frowned and looked around at all her best friends. There was Sora, her dear friend and partner in insanity. There was Kairi, gentle and polite, always there to chat with, always trying to help out her friends whether or not they wanted it. Then there was Aerith, kind and warm, always there to fall back on in times of need. Next to her, wrapping his strong arms around her slim shoulders, was Cloud. The strong silent one who could be awkward and sweet at times. Always there to ask for help when you needed it and didn't want to go to the others. Next comes Cid, grumpy old Cid, and yet always there to make her feel better by picking play fights with her over minuscule things.

And finally there was Leon. Stoic emotionless boring Leon… And yet despite all that he was always there for Yuffie whether she wanted comfort, advice, or help in any way. He was her best friend and sometimes Yuffie thought he could be more if the two decided to try pursuing something… But after everything that had happened, Yuffie found she just knew it wouldn't work. It wouldn't be right.

Leon was Leon. Her friend and mentor and that was all.

But then… Yuffie skimmed over her friends again… What was Riku now? Could he and she actually be friends now? _No, _she thought, _that'll never happen._

So what were they then? Nothing? _I guess, _she thought uneasily.

But somehow that answer didn't seem right. Though she didn't know why.

-

"Today was super fun," chirped Selphie, giving them all a small chipper wave before departing to her seaside home.

"Bye!"

"See ya!"

"Bye Selphie!"

"I think I'll be going home too, ya," said Wakka giving them all a final salute before departing with his blitzball held under his arm.

"Bye!" called Tidus, Riku just waved.

"So," said Riku casting a glance in the direction of the beach, "this was pretty fun. Hanging out with you guys I mean. It makes a nice change every once in a while."

"That's good," said Tidus, folding his arms behind his head, "it was nice having you here."

"Mm."

The two walked on in silence for a while, eventually Tidus turned to Riku; face serious, "You know," he began, "those people from Radiant Garden or whatever…. They're leaving today."

"Mm…"

"That includes Yuffie."

"Mm…"

"Are you sure you don't wanna go say good bye?"

"Mm-hm."

"What about the others? They're your friends too. You could at least go to say bye to them."

"Mm…"

"Riku, please. You can be so stubborn sometimes! Why don't you at least suck it up for five minutes and say a formal good bye to her before she goes off to another world and you don't see her for a long time?!"

Riku stared at Tidus for a moment, "I-…" his voice trailed off and his gaze traveled to the beach where the other's gummi ship was'; preparing to take off.

And then quite suddenly he started running off in that direction.

"Good for him," muttered Tidus watching his friend go with amusement.

-

"Sora! Kairi!"

Two said teenagers spun around to see a figure with silver hair bounding towards them at full speed.

"Hey," huffed Riku doubling over and gasping for breath, "I… came to… say bye… Am I too late…?"

"Nope, just in time," answered Aerith stepping out of the gummi ship and giving all three islanders hugs.

"Hey, you made it," commented Leon as he joined her and gave each three in turn brief nods of acknowledgement.

"Well, look who's here," grumbled Cid, knocking each of them upside the head.

"We'll be keeping in touch," murmured Cloud putting an arm around Aerith's waist and casting them all a small smile.

"Bye."

Riku turned, breathing stopped, Yuffie walked up and joined the gang.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she said, not taking her eyes off her boots.

"Sora, Kairi, could you give me and the others a little help with getting the gummi ship started. One of the motors is broke."

Everyone turned to Cid, _Was he playing matchmaker?_

"Sure," said Sora grinning knowingly, and Kairi nodded and followed the rest in.

And suddenly Riku and Yuffie were alone on the beach.

"I uh- I…. um…" Riku's mouth stumbled over his words clumsily and inwardly he damned it to hell for failing him at a time like this.

"I'm sorry," Yuffie blurted, finally raising her face to look at Riku straight on in the eye, "you must really hate me."

Riku merely shook his head, "The sad thing is… I don't, even though I should. Is that what getting dumped is about? Feeling bad for yourself instead of getting mad at the jerk who dumped you? Cause it sucks…"

"Y-You're not mad?" asked Yuffie in disbelief.

"No," said Riku simply, "I just want to know why."

"You'll think it's stupid," she murmured, turning her gaze from him once again.

"My best friend is Sora," snapped Riku dryly, "you'd be surprised by what I consider stupid."

Yuffie snorted, "Well alright… I guess I do owe you an explanation at least… Selphie told me this crazy legend about how if you meet a guy at exactly twelve you'll fall in love… And well, we met at twelve o'clock."

"We did?" asked Riku. Heck, it was news to him.

"Yes," said Yuffie wincing at how very stupid her words sounded, "and I… I broke up with you because I thought we only liked each other because of that legend and… I don't like being told what to do… Not by Cid, you, my dad… Or some crazy romantic theory."

Riku stared at Yuffie.

"That has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard…. I got_ dumped_ over _that_?"

"Uh yeah," Yuffie flinched again.

"That-… That… That's really sad…. Oh wow, how pathetic am I? I got dumped over some stupid love legend? Yikes…" Riku continued to mutter until after a while he glanced at Yuffie and grinned and the two simultaneously burst out laughing.

"You know," said Yuffie whipping tears from her eyes, "it really is dumb now that I think about it."

"No kidding," snorted Riku, "I mean, gee Yuffie…. I thought you were better than that… But it looks like you do believe in that kind of trash."

"Sorry, sorry," said Yuffie hastily, "you're right I'm a total loser. God, I can't believe I-… But you know it's true… The legend. I really think it's the only reason we like each other at all."

"Well," said Riku smile slowly fading, "I guess it can't be helped then… I'll see you around I guess."

"Oi! Yuffie! Get your scrawny ass in here! We're taking off soon!"

"But Cid!" cried Yuffie flipping open her cell phone and checking the time, "You said we were leaving at four! It's only three!"

"Wait a minute," said Riku, walking up to her and putting a hand on her shoulder, "Say that one more time."

"He said we were leaving-

"No after that," cut in Riku, his grin broadening even as he spoke, "after that. The last sentence."

Yuffie frowned and said very slowly, "It's… Only… Three…"

And at that Riku's face broke out into a full out grin; and soon his mouth opened wider and her burst out laughing.

Everyone else filed out of the gummi ship, stopping in shock as they watched Riku double over laughing.

"Um what's up with him?" asked Cloud, subconsciously pulling his girlfriend away from the loon.

"That's what I want to know," snapped Yuffie, stomping her foot, this action only caused Riku to laugh harder and fall over completely.

"Y- Yuffie," he burst out between laughs, "it IS four o'clock… Your cell phone's clock must be… and hour fast!" He slapped the ground and laughed harder practically rolling on the floor. Yuffie stared at him in disbelief. Everyone else was just stunned.

"Um… Okay?" asked Sora, "did we miss something? Since when did Yuffie's time become so important? Yuffie?"

Yuffie shook her head and grinned, pulling her now hysterical boyfriend to his feet. Slowly Riku stopped laughing and smiled widely at Yuffie.

"You idiot," he said simply, "you stupid stupid idiot. I- I can't believe I even like you. I mean- my God!"

Yuffie laughed nervously before pulling Riku into a fierce kiss, ended only by everyone else's muttering.

"Well," said Kairi cheerfully, "looks like you two are back together… Though I'm still not sure why."

"Don't ask," muttered Leon, "you really don't want to know."

"Whatever," said Cloud, "let's just get going."

"Okay," said Yuffie brightly, "Bye Riku!"

"See ya soon!" Riku called after the ninja girl as she disappeared into the gummi ship; bouncing up and down as she did so.

"Well," said Kairi turning to Riku even as the ship took off, "what was that about?"

"Talk to Selphie," said Riku blandly before folding his arms behind his head and strolling away.

"Selphie?" asked Sora, "I wonder why…"

"Oh well," said Kairi taking Sora's hand and leading him like a dog down the beach.

In the meantime Riku walked up to his bedroom and decided to turn in for the day. He had a lot of sleep to catch up on.

**Author's Note: **YES! It's over!... I'm actually sad to see it go though… Oh well… Special thanks to all who have reviewed throughout this story's progress! You guys are the reason I write!

Please be on the look out for my upcoming stories! I'm currently thinking about going on a crack pairing splurge and writing one one-shot for every Riku crack pairing out there. That would include RikuxSelphie and RikuxTifa and RikuxAerith…

But like I've said before I'm pretty busy as is so I probably won't get around to that little splurge for a while… Oh well…

This was my first fanfic and I thank you all for making it a success!

Until the future

-ChibiFrubaGirl


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